A Different Kind of Magic
by VidaOptimista
Summary: Emma has broken the Dark Curse and magic has been restored to all in Storybrooke. Fearing that the town will revolt against Regina's oppression, Emma must grapple with her feelings and decide whether saving the Evil Queen is the right thing to do. Regina must also grapple with her own feelings that Emma's actions give rise to. The result is one hell of an emotional rollercoaster.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: A Different Kind of Magic  
**Author**: Vida Optimista  
**Category**: TV Show/Once Upon a Time  
**Pairing**: Emma/Regina  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters referenced in this story and am writing this simply for pleasure (mine and hopefully yours, too!), not for profit. Please do not sue!  
**Summary**: Emma has broken the Dark Curse and magic has been restored to all in Storybrooke. Fearing that the town will revolt against Regina's oppression, Emma must grapple with her feelings and decide whether saving the Evil Queen is the right thing to do. Regina must also grapple with her own feelings that Emma's actions give rise to. The result is one hell of an emotional rollercoaster.  
**A/N**: Though not new to writing - fanfiction or otherwise - this is my first Once Upon a Time story. I felt compelled to write it to show what I feel _should _be the direction the show takes our favorite leading ladies in. Then again, what do I know? ;) Please read and review. I can also be found on twitter: VidaOptimista. Thanks, everyone!

**Chapter 1**

The mayor walked resignedly up the winding staircase of her massive home, her footfalls slow and deliberate, heavy as the sinking feeling of regret that burdened her heart. She knew she must have looked quite the absurd vision to the outside observer; this petite woman, shoulders hunched and dark eyes glistening with tears as she trudged up the grand staircase among all of her worldly possessions. Who on earth could possibly feel anything but pride and a sense of accomplishment in this mansion, this monument to her power and the control she had exerted over the town – _her _town?

In creating Storybrooke, she had given everyone the things they deserved – quaint, cozy homes, careers tailored to each individual and the gorgeous backdrop of coastal Maine to live out their lives. For as long as anyone could remember – memory was an intangible thing here, for which she had everything to do with – she had been a mighty force in Storybrooke, feared and yet respected by all. But the tables had turned, and she knew that her life would soon be in danger as the townspeople woke up from their oblivious slumber. At this moment, people all across the small town were gaining back their memories from the other world, their world, in which magic pulsated and thrived in the air, an element as essential as oxygen. They would remember that she was not their mayor, but rather the Evil Queen who had cursed their lives and banished their happy endings by sending them here, to a land without magic. She had stripped away their true identities and with it, all the memories of who they were and who they loved. Now it seemed that she was about to lose the one thing that she loved the most in this world, her son.

Henry.

Tears prickled her eyes and constricted her throat as she ascended the steps of her empty house, knowing he wouldn't be returning any time soon, if ever. She had known that this day would come inevitably. Her loss of him had been slow and gradual, though that didn't make it any less painful. It had all started when he was given the book, that damned book of fairytales that told of princesses, knights and of course, Regina herself. It had only served to cast her as a vile, ruthless monarch in contrast to the other fairy tale characters, whose epic love stories and virtues were expounded on to no end. Regina had been innocent once, too, had loved with all of her heart before it was torn away from her, but of course that had conveniently been left out of the narrative. Despite all the years Regina had doted on her son, despite being the one to feed him, clothe him and soothe away his nightmares, she knew that the only person he saw when he looked into her eyes was the Evil Queen, the soulless monster who had thrived on the destruction of all those around her.

She then approached the top of the stairs, daylight streaming through the large picture window ahead. Moving toward it, she took in the sight of her well-manicured grounds: the vibrant azaleas, the hedges, which had been trained into sharp, geometric lines, and then, her beloved Honeycrisp tree, which had clearly seen better days. As her eyes descended upon the withering fruit and the scarred bark where a limb had been severed, she felt anger begin to seethe within her chest, her breath quickening.

Emma Swan. It was all her damn fault! Somehow, just mere months after roaring into town, the reckless woman had managed to destroy every single thing of value in Regina's life – her tree, her arrangement with Graham, and now, most significantly, her relationship with Henry. True, Henry's blind faith in his fairytale anthology had already tainted his perception of her and caused him to see Regina as the Evil Queen long before he snuck off to Boston to search out his birth mother, Emma. The book revealed her identity as the child of Snow White and Prince Charming, the child destined to become the Savior, and the only one who would break the Evil Queen's curse and free the people of Storybrooke from their hell on earth.

As soon as Emma's existence had been made a reality to him, Henry had felt that he finally had an ally in the fight against evil – against Regina, herself. Of course, she had not known initially that Emma was the Savior; Henry had encouraged Emma to burn the pages that revealed her identity in order to hide it from Regina. The only thing she had witnessed was the child she had been a devoted mother to turning his back on her in favor of his biological mother, a stranger that had heretofore never had a thing to do with him and, quite honestly, never _had _wanted anything to do with him. And how selfish, brash and cruel had it been to give him up for adoption? At least Regina had always wanted her son, always craved his presence in her life. When looked at in those terms, it could not be more clear who was evil and who was good.

And yet, for as much rage as she felt at the thought of Miss Swan, her heart was also full of gratitude to the woman for saving Henry's life. She vividly remembered the moment Emma had leaned down and kissed Henry's forehead, the boy lying lifeless in that cold, sterile hospital bed. A moment had ticked by, and then, a rush of energy as potent as an earthquake came tearing through the room, knocking the breath from the lungs of everyone standing there to witness it. With it, the breath had returned to Henry's lips and he gasped, sitting up abruptly, eyes wide open in complete and utter shock. It had been the most beautiful sound to her ears, something so often taken for granted, something she had feared she would never hear again.

"You did it!" she had said to Emma, incredulously. And in that moment that her son's eyes opened, love had come rushing back into her heart with such a blinding force that she'd wanted nothing more than to run to the woman and embrace her. Dazed beyond words, instinct urged her to go to Emma and show her, _make_ her feel every bit of gratitude soaring within her. How else could the woman ever know that in saving Henry, she had saved her, as well?

But as the disoriented hospital staff came rushing into the room around her, the words that came out of Henry's mouth stopped her dead in her tracks.

"The curse, I think you broke it!"

Of course. The people Regina had cursed so many years ago were now waking up to their true selves, and as their memories returned, so would their recollection of who she really was and what she had done to them. There would be hell to pay when they came looking for her. Rumplestiltskin, detestable creature that he was, had been right when he said that all magic comes with a price. Regina knew the truth of those words now more than ever as her son's life had been saved, and as a result, her own now imperiled.

Before running, she had knelt beside Henry's bed and professed her love for him, so amazed that her little boy had been brought back to life. With tears in her eyes, she had looked deeply into his and willed him to believe her oath with every fiber of her being. He was the only person she had every truly loved in this world and she didn't think he could ever possibly comprehend how much he meant to her. But she needed him to hear the truth, even if it was the last thing she ever said to him.

Shuddering as she returned to the present, Regina began moving slowly down the hall toward Henry's room. Every step took tremendous effort as the energy within her drained away and her thoughts drifted further into the darkest recesses of her mind. How she'd wanted, no, _needed _Henry so desperately to believe in her love for him. How was it that he'd looked at her in that moment of her confession? Was it defiance? Indifference? Doubt? She racked her brain, the image of him staring back at her in the hospital bed burning a hole into her subconscious. What hurt the most was not knowing. He had not acknowledged her admission at all; he hadn't breathed a word, whether of acceptance or denial. His rejection was what she dreaded most in this world.

Tears sprang anew to her eyes as she sank down onto his bed and picked up his pillow, holding it close to her face, feeling within her heart that she had lost him for good. Of all the things she valued in this world, he was the most precious to her. He had been her only hope for a happy ending, her only love – she knew herself incapable of showing love any other way, but that had always been fine by her. Her son had given her exactly what her heart craved. In raising him, she had hoped to put her past behind her and redeem herself as a woman who couldbe seen as selfless, nurturing and good – at least in his eyes. She had fooled herself into believing that she had changed for him, but as she came slowly undone in stillness of his empty bedroom, she felt every bit of blackness still reigning in her heart even as it shattered.

Then, suddenly, something changed. She heard a massive gust of wind whipping around beyond the window. Frowning, she slowly backed off the bed and stepped across the room. Laying her hands on the window frame, she peered outside and saw an ominous storm of purple smoke rolling toward her, rapidly enveloping every single part of Storybrooke. Consternation knitted her brow at first, then, recognition: this was the return of magic. It could be no other thing than this!

No wonder Gold had wanted that potion so badly. Of course he wanted his power to return, greedy little snake that he was, but somehow it seemed that he had unleashed it over the entire town. Immediately, the implications dawned on her. _She _would have her power back, too, and with it she could do anything – and that meant getting Henry back.

_Yes_, she vowed, a smirk tugging at her lips and a devious gleam blazing wildly in her hooded, dark brown eyes, _I will get what I want this time. Just _try _and stop me._

xXxXx

Emma moved quickly to the hospital window with Henry by her side, joining the nurse who stood there shocked and rendered speechless by what she saw outside. What she witnessed she could not explain: a gigantic cloud of purple fog, stretching as far as the eye could see and obscuring everything in its path as it billowed menacingly toward them.

"What is that?" she asked, eyes wide and mouth agape in fear.

"Something bad," Henry intoned, unable to take his eyes off of the threatening, otherworldly storm clouds approaching.

Emma braced herself for what came next, instinctively throwing her arm around Henry and pulling him closer. There was nowhere to run, not enough time to get away. Would they be swallowed up in the noxious smoke, choked to death? Would it obliterate everything in sight, transporting them out of this world and into that other, strange land? She didn't have time to panic, nor time to think as purple sashes slithered in between the gaps of the windows and began to fill the room.

"Hold on!" she shouted to Henry as everything fell into chaos around them – screams, gasps, curses and prayers of the hospital staff all fusing into a crescendo of real terror. She held her breath as the storm whipped through them, willing all the strength she could muster into the tiny body that clutched her fearfully.

And then, just like that, it was over. Emma spun around to watch the last of the purple menace disappear behind them as it permeated the wall like an ethereal spirit walking between two worlds. Immediately, she looked down at Henry, whose eyes were still wide with fear.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Frowning, he started, "I – I _think_ so. What happened?"

"I don't know, kid," she replied, "I'm not sure I want to know."

Then, the Mother Superior stepped forward, a look of confident certainty breaking through the bewilderment she, too, had just experienced. "It's magic," she uttered. "It's returning!"

Okay, now _this _was just too much to take. It wasn't enough that she had learned that Regina really was the Evil Queen of Henry's fairytales, had slain a dragon and defeated the Dark Curse with true love's kiss – all in the space of a few hours, nonetheless. Now _magic _was real and was returning to Storybrooke?

"What in the hell does _that _mean?" Emma demanded, thoroughly pissed as the last little bit of the reality she thought she had known came crumbling down at her feet.

"It means that all that was lost to us has now been returned," Mother Superior replied. "We will all have our powers restored!"

The implications of that came crashing down on Emma immediately. That meant Regina and Mr. Gold – no, no, the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin – would once again have the ability to inflict whatever tortures on whomever they saw fit. But so would anyone else in Storybrooke, as the magic had touched everyone and everything within the town. And ultimately, that meant that no one was safe – least of all, Regina, who had just been exposed as the master of manipulation she truly was.

She could envision it now, the townspeople storming the streets below, mobilizing into a witch hunt of epic proportions. The irony of those last words not lost on her one bit, she knew that at this moment there were hundreds of people that wanted Regina's head and would stop at nothing to get it.

_Fuck._

As infuriating as that sick, twisted woman was to her, Emma knew she had to protect her. She was Sheriff, after all, and she couldn't let the townspeople exact their murderous revenge against another citizen, not even Regina.

As if reading her thoughts, Henry spoke. "They're going to kill my mom."

Emma looked down at him, then, somewhat taken aback at the raw fear she saw in his eyes. After all, up until that moment she had never heard him utter anything but abject loathing for the woman. But perhaps he'd had a change of heart when she'd knelt at his bedside and tearfully professed her love for him. Emma knew – had known for quite some time – that she loved Henry with all her heart and that she would do anything to protect him and his best interests. That was all the convincing she needed.

Determination steeled her jaw, hardened her green eyes as she looked at her son.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," she vowed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **First and foremost, THANK YOU for all the reviews and favorites! It means the world to me that you guys are enjoying the ride as much as I am. That being said, these characters are taking on a life of their own within the story and it's beginning to spin in a slightly different direction that what I'd initially anticipated. I'm horrible at titles, and I think the initial one I came up with ("The One that Got Away") will go better with another idea I've got spinning around in my brain. Hope the title change isn't that jarring and that you will continue to enjoy. Thanks! :)

**Chapter 2**

Emma paced the hallway outside Henry's hospital room with the phone pressed against her ear, her other hand shoved in her jeans pocket. _Come on, Mary Margaret, answer!_ she willed the other woman. This was her third attempt at calling her friend – mother, actually, although she hadn't been able to quite wrap her brain around that association just yet – and though she was beginning to see it was futile trying to reach her, she still braced herself, expecting to hear her pick up at any moment.

Pulling the phone away from her ear, she glared at the offending object and was about to press 'end' when she heard a tinny voice respond from the receiver in her hand. Thanking her lucky stars, she quickly moved the phone back up to her ear.

"Mary Margaret?"

"Emma! Darling, are you okay? Is it Henry? Please tell me he's not –"

"He's fine," Emma said quickly, immediately noting the term of endearment and the way the other woman's pitch had instinctively risen in a fear that mirrored the frantic urgency she, herself was feeling. Oh yeah. This was definitely going to take some getting used to.

"And I'm fine, too," she continued. "Look, I don't have a lot of time to explain, but there's something I need you to do for me."

"Anything," Mary Margaret breathed. "What is it?"

"I need you to watch Henry tonight. The doctors are looking after him now, but he's okay and they're about to release him any minute now."

"O-okay," the other woman stammered. "But what about you? Where are you going to be?"

Emma sighed, squeezing her eyes shut, hand coming up to her face to pinch the bridge of her nose. If she had ever felt like an ass before, it certainly paled in comparison to this very moment. She'd spent her entire twenty-eight years trying to search for her birth parents, and now that she finally had found them, the first thing she had done was to ask her mom to babysit. Nope, definitely not the way she'd imagined it.

"I can't say right now, but I promise you I will explain when I get back. Can you do this one thing for me?" Emma pleaded.

"Of course, dear. I'll be right there," Mary Margaret promised.

Emma thanked her sincerely.

"Oh, and Emma? Be safe," the other woman asked, concern straining her voice.

At this, Emma could not help but smirk. "Yes, mo – I mean, Mary Mar–. Oh hell. You know what I mean!" The two women shared a good, hearty laugh for a moment before saying goodbye.

Grim reality set in then, and the blonde knew she had to hurry to make sure she got to Regina in time. She shoved the phone into her jeans pocket and took off at a run down the hospital corridors, whizzing past dazed nurses and doctors as she went. Rounding a corner, she nearly face-planted into a young woman in scrubs that was precariously juggling a cup of coffee and a clipboard – probably an intern, by the looks of it – and she called out as sincere an apology as she could muster over her shoulder. Spotting the stairwell at the end of the hallway, she charged forward and took them speedily down to the ground floor. Carefully negotiating the crowd milling about the emergency room receiving area, she glided toward the glass doors and made her way to the parking lot. Her bright yellow Bug was hard to miss, and she took off at a dead run toward it. Fumbling with her keys for just a moment, she climbed inside and gunned the engine.

In minutes, Emma was navigating down the city streets as quickly as she could – not an easy task, as people had gathered in small groups all across town, some reunions spilling over into the road. She could feel their curious eyes upon her as she passed by, but she did not stop to look, determination keeping her eyes glued to the road in front of her. She cursed under her breath as the traffic light ahead changed to yellow and she slowed to a stop. _Why didn't I just take the damn cruiser today? _Then, thinking better of it, she looked both ways and then powered through the intersection, letting out a whistle as she punched the ceiling.

It was then that she realized that she hadn't really taken the time to formulate what exactly she was going to do with Regina once she got to her house. For a brief moment, she envisioned herself slapping her square on the cheek – after all, the bitch had tried to poison her! Oh, how she would have relished the look of shock and pain registering on the brunette's face as she got what she deserved! That was one piece of business they hadn't had time to address yet. But Emma knew there wasn't even time for that. She had to get Regina away from the house, where everyone would come looking for her, and into safety.

_And just where would that be?_ she asked herself. She sure as hell wasn't going to aid and abet her at her apartment – Mary Margaret/Snow's, actually. The lack of love lost between the two women was legendary in its own right, and she cringed when she thought of the consequences that reunion would bring. If Henry was right – and clearly he was – the sole cause of the Evil Queen's hatred had been Snow White, and she had spent every waking moment plotting ways to torture the girl. But then, Snow was far from the only person whose life she had destroyed – whether in their world or Storybrooke. No, Regina's mortal enemy would be a small concern compared to the multitudes of others that would come to enact their revenge.

Lost in thought, Emma chewed on her lip as she guided the car down the road, careening around corners and speeding up on the straight and narrow passages. She could not ignore all of the atrocities Regina had committed by enacting the Dark Curse upon the people of Storybrooke, the neighbors Emma had just begun to consider her friends. Having friendships, true ones, was a luxury she hadn't allowed herself before her arrival in the small town. Self-preservation had been her M.O. from birth up until the present – through all of the foster homes she'd been carelessly tossed to and from in childhood and all the turbulent romantic entanglements she'd weathered in recent years. But there was something to be said for the way the townspeople had embraced her immediately, first as a stranger, then Deputy, and now, their Sheriff. They had shown kindness to her in ways both large and small, and she could not, _would not_ turn her back on them. Yes, she would see to it that Regina was brought to justice.

Emma's breath caught in her throat as she pulled onto her street, not sure what she might see when she got closer. She spied the grand estate set back from the road by its large, expansive lawn, but nothing else out of the ordinary – no chanting, screaming mobs, just Regina's black sedan parked in the driveway as she'd hoped it would be. Relief came rushing over her as she pulled up in front of the house and parked the car. Throwing open the glove box, she rummaged through until she found what she needed. With a smile, she mentally applauded her own acuity in keeping a spare set of handcuffs in the Bug – one never can tell just when they might be needed! – and stashed them in the pocket off her red leather jacket.

Throwing open the car door, Emma climbed outside and slammed it shut behind her. She strode hastily past the hedges at the edge of the sidewalk, eyes trained straight ahead on the front door. Jogging the rest of the distance, heart pounding in her chest, she raised her hand to knock on it.

"Regina!" she called out. Hearing nothing, she knocked again more urgently, her voice hoarser as she shouted her name again.

Inside, Regina heard the knock on her door from where she stood in Henry's bedroom, the sound echoing through the hollowness of the vast home. Breath catching in her throat, she paused, eyes widening as her heart filled with dread and seemed to cease beating. Then she heard Emma's voice, and for a moment, she felt immensely relieved. That is, until she remembered the nightmares that had been plaguing her for weeks and she envisioned the woman flanked by an angry mob at her front door.

"Dammit, Regina, I'm trying to help you!" she heard Emma say, as if she had read her very thoughts.

_Help me?_ Regina mused, a smile tugging at her lips ever so slightly. _How very interesting. _She had long prided herself on never needing anyone or anything, and up until today when Henry's life had been in danger, she hadn't needed anything from Emma Swan. It had been infuriating to relinquish the control to the woman she despised, but she had done so for the sake of their son. She'd be damned if she ever had to do that again, and now that her powers had been restored, she reminded herself that it wouldn't be necessary. Mind made up, Regina descended lightly down the stairs, determined to tell Emma just that and send her on her way. Wearing an indulgent smirk that grew brighter by the second, she crossed over the tile floor and pulled the door open to see the blonde Sheriff standing there by herself, hand at the ready to knock again.

"Miss Swan," she crooned with delight, taking in the wide-eyed concern in the other woman. "Did I hear you correctly in saying that you came here to _help _me?"

"Cut the crap and let me in," Emma demanded, scowling at Regina as she shouldered past her into the entryway.

"That won't be necessary," she insisted, dismissing her with a wave of her hand. "In light of recent events it would seem that I am more powerful than ever. And while your display of concern is really quite endearing, I –"

"No. You're not the only one with magic now, _Your Majesty_," Emma cut her off, disdain dripping from her voice as she spat her title. "And I shouldn't have to remind you how many people want to see you dead right now."

Regina was never one to cower before a threat and certainly not one as empty as this. Refusing to back down, she advanced on Emma, moving in so closely that she could nearly feel the anger radiating from the other woman's body. "It's nothing I can't handle," she seethed, her red lips curled into a sneer.

Emma had had enough of the other woman's false bravado. She came here for Regina and was not going to leave without her. Period. With narrowed eyes to meet the icy Queen's glare, she gravitated toward her, all but closing the gap between them.

"You're under arrest," she uttered. Emma felt, rather than heard Regina's answering scoff.

"I don't think so." With that, Regina thrust out her hand to grab Emma's shoulder and summoned the magic within her to propel her against the door – only, that didn't happen. Emma took her eyes off of Regina's for only a moment to look down at where her hand gripped her, then instinct took over and she knocked the brunette's arm away with her elbow.

_What the…_Regina didn't have a second further to ponder why her magic hadn't sent Emma flying across the room as the other woman's strong hands took hold of her shoulders, shoving her back. The force of it caused Regina to stumble backward and she lost her footing, tumbling hard onto the tile floor. Emma loomed above her with a fury in her eyes that nearly took her breath away, and she scrambled onto her elbows, trying desperately to backpedal. But the other woman was too quick, and she launched herself forward, landing directly on top of her. Without losing a beat, Emma seized Regina by the wrists and forced them high above her head, feeling the brunette's taut frame pulsing against her own with the rapid breaths forced from her lungs.

"Jesus, Regina! Haven't we done this enough already today?" Emma cried out angrily, her own breath ragged from the struggle.

What happened next she could not have predicted in a million years. Looking down at the woman pinned below her, chest straining with labored breaths against her white cotton blouse, she saw the fear in Regina's eyes give way to a completely different emotion, though just as raw. Then, without warning, the brunette thrust her upper body against hers and in one swift motion, captured her lips in a rough kiss.

Gasping, Emma felt the breath leave her entirely. Her eyes slid shut of their own volition, her grip on the other's wrists easing up in response. Instinctively, she pressed her mouth harder against the brunette's, matching her every bit in ferocity. But no sooner had it started than she felt the woman struggling beneath her, breaking the kiss as she twisted around onto her stomach, hands fighting free of her grasp. Quick to react, Emma reached up for Regina's hands and forcefully slammed them to the floor above her head again. Anger began to burn in her chest as she realized it was all a ruse, just a means to distract her from her original intent.

"What the fuck was that?" she demanded, digging her knee into the small of the woman's back.

Wincing, Regina pressed her cheek to the floor and peered back at Emma over her shoulder. A self-satisfied grin began to break through the pain etched on her features.

"You're good," she rasped, her voice low and thick.

Emma didn't allow herself a single moment to ponder the meaning of the brunette's comment or indulge in the growing, slick pressure between her legs that developed in response to it. Instead, she wrenched the other woman's arms down toward her back and reached for the handcuffs in her pocket. Slapping them over one wrist at a time, Emma slowly released her hold and climbed off of Regina. Wordlessly, she grasped her by the shoulder and pulled the other woman to her feet. She took hold of her elbow and led her toward the door.

"Just what charges are you arresting me for, Sheriff?" Regina huffed, defiance blazing in her dark eyes. "Attempted murder by poisoning? Because you know as well as I do that no toxicology report in the world will find anything in that turnover."

Emma's lips pressed together in a tight, angry line, keeping her eyes trained on her car up ahead. She knew Regina was right. It would be impossible to convict her of any crime here in Storybrooke without any physical evidence to link her to her misdeeds. But she had to be made to answer to what she had done, not only just to Emma and, inadvertently, Henry, but to all of the people she had ever harmed. Now that the two worlds had been bridged together by magic, the letter of the law would have to adapt to somehow accommodate both.

"I know," Emma agreed, reluctantly. "But I have no choice except to take you into custody. It's the only way you'll be safe." _You and everyone else_, she added silently. Just as she knew the townspeople would undoubtedly come to seek her destruction, she couldn't be certain what Regina might be capable of or how she might fire back at them.

As Emma pondered that, Regina was beginning to fear quite the opposite. Her intimate knowledge of the dark arts and its manipulation had not been lost on her in the transition to the new world. Moments ago, she had called it up from within her as she laid her hand on the blonde's shoulder, intending to cast her away. She had delighted in the old, familiar stirrings of the black magic within her veins. But just as suddenly as she'd felt it burning within her, it had died off, stopping suddenly without explanation. Anxiety rankled her, her thoughts spinning ever more rapidly with each passing second. Perhaps she just hadn't tried hard enough?

Emma approached the passenger door of the Bug and threw it open, guiding the brunette inside. Hurrying around the car to the other side, Emma quickly hopped in and started up the engine. Wordlessly, they took off down the street, both women's thoughts quite occupied by what lie ahead.

Eyes trained to the floor, Regina focused her mind's eye on the handcuffs that pinned her wrists behind her against the seat. With a little more concentration and effort than she'd mustered before, she slid her eyes shut and imagined them breaking open. Once again, she felt the rush of energy building inside of her and she guided it with all her might to the offending object that was causing her pain. Once again, she felt her power die off just before it could flourish into action.

Rage burned behind her eyes as they fluttered open, though it was quickly extinguished by the apprehension that was building within her by the moment. Helplessly, she slumped back into the seat.

_No, this does not bode well. Not well at all._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Thanks once again for the continued reviews and support! Your words of encouragement mean the world to me! Also, please bear with me as far as Regina's lack of magic is concerned – all will be revealed in due time, I promise! Finally, the next update may take a few days longer than the others, as I'm returning back to work this week. Vacation was fantastic and allowed me to indulge fully in my Swan Queen feels…wish I could ship them like it was my full-time job, haha! Don't we all? That being said, ENJOY! :)

**Chapter 3**

The cold, hard brick wall of the jail cell was beginning to create a dull ache in Regina's lower back as she sat propped up against it, legs sprawled before her on the thin, standard-issue cot. She glanced down at the hands resting on her lap, wrists still bearing red indentations from the bite of the handcuffs she'd been forced to wear earlier, and closed her eyes, imagining instead that she was lying in the confines of her king-sized bed – anywhere but here. And yet, she knew she was powerless to do anything about her imprisonment.

As the Evil Queen of the old world, she had been the highest ruler in all the land, having anything available at her disposal whenever she dictated it. She had taken pleasure in the fineries she surrounded herself with – everything from the ornate sculptures and paintings that decorated her palace, to the lavish clothing tailored to her every curve, and even the simple Honeycrisp that she had nurtured since her childhood into the majestic, towering tree that was known to produce the most delicious fruit in the entire realm. Her magic had ensured that she never wanted for anything, no matter how great or small, and she could have it all with a flick of her wrist. The reaches of her power had been limitless, extending not only to material possessions, but to her reign over each and every individual in her kingdom. Her reputation as a merciless, sadistic monarch had guaranteed her the fealty of all, lest they become the unwitting target of a dark spell, or worse.

Dark eyes glaring down toward the clasped hands in her lap, Regina's thoughts moved to her present predicament. She tried in vain to squash the feelings of self-loathing that washed over her. Weakness was not a part of the obstinate woman's vocabulary and had not been for as long as she could remember – well, almost. Still to this day she remembered with burning clarity the crushing blow she had been dealt when her mother had discovered her plans to elope with Daniel, the one and only true love she had ever known, and had ripped the beating heart out of his chest, squeezing it into dust right before her eyes. Her mother had told her that love is weakness, and that the only enduring thing in this or _any _world is power.

And yet, Regina realized in that moment, her mother could not ever have known just how wrong she was. The events of the last few hours had shown her that nothing in life is truly permanent, not even power. Her Dark Curse had crumbled away into absolute nothingness, leaving her instantly bereft of her stature. For reasons unknown to her, the return of magic to Storybrooke had restored power to all but her, and though it pricked at her very soul to admit it, a growing part of her was starting to accept that perhaps this was the price she was destined to pay for all of her cruel, twisted deeds. Completely bereft of power, the only thing left inside her was the weakness of a condemned soul.

Regina's eyes shifted then to the blonde Sheriff sitting at her desk across the room. Emma sat stiffly in the chair, eyes cast downward, though not apparently focused on anything in particular, the pencil in her hand tapping a furious rhythm against the desk. It made for a strange sight; she hadn't ever recalled seeing the so-called Savior so ruffled by anything before. And that was saying quite a lot, considering all the misery she'd delighted in putting her through in the past several months.

"Penny for your thoughts, Miss Swan?" Regina asked, breaking the silence.

Emma's face shot up, startled by the sudden interruption. "What's it to you?"

"Well, I suppose nothing at all," Regina volleyed. "Just trying to make conversation before the inevitable happens."

Emma nodded and replied a bit more evenly, "I'm not looking forward to this any more than you are."

"And why is that?" the brunette asked, swinging her legs around the side of the cot to face the other woman directly. "I would have thought you'd be jumping for joy about my imminent destruction."

"Maybe I am, in some ways," Emma admitted, standing from her chair. Stepping around the desk, she slowly approached the couch outside the cell and sank down on its arm, mere inches away from the bars. "But it's not that simple."

"What do you mean?" Regina asked, hands curling around the bars as she shifted down toward the end of the mattress.

"I mean that," Emma started, searching to find the right words, "Look, you're a complete and utter bitch. And that doesn't even _begin _to cover it. You've destroyed countless lives – my friends', my family's, and really, mine too. _You_ are the reason I grew up without my parents. And for that, I want you to suffer."

"But?" Regina prodded, a bemused smile flitting across her features.

"But," Emma continued, reluctantly, "you have also been the mother to my son. You took him in and provided him with everything that I couldn't when I had him. I owe you for that."

Regina's chin inclined, a single eyebrow arching at the last comment. _No doubt suppressing a smart-ass comment_, Emma thought. But the other woman remained silent, encouraging her to continue.

"So I want to make sure that you are treated fairly. No child deserves to lose a parent, and I'll be damned if that child is Henry."

"But Henry doesn't–" Regina's response was cut off by the sound of shouting and heavy footsteps echoing down the hallway toward the Sheriff's office. Her eyes locked on Emma's, then, meeting there in the green depths the same wide-eyed apprehension that she felt clenching at her insides.

Emma stood up abruptly from the couch, moving to the door with grace in her stride – truly remarkable, considering what faced her on the other side. She pulled it open to see a group of townspeople that stretched from the door to about ten feet down the narrow, dimly-lit hallway. Within the crowd were faces both familiar and unfamiliar – Leroy and Mr. Clarke, the town pharmacist, heading up the front, with Granny and Ruby, Marco and Archie filling in the ranks behind them along with several other faces Emma had seen before but couldn't put names to. Standing at the very back of the disgruntled mob was David Nolan – Prince Charming, Emma's estranged father, who wore a mirthless, tight-lipped scowl on his face but said nothing. She noted that her mother, Snow, was not there, and she hoped that meant she had kept her word and stayed behind with Henry.

"Where is she?" Leroy barked, glaring at Emma with narrowed eyes. There were whoops and hollers throughout the crowd echoing his demand.

_Oh boy, here we go,_ Emma thought with dismay. Determined not to let her face betray the vast array of emotions she was feeling beneath the exterior, she spoke to the mob.

"Okay, everybody just calm down!" Emma commanded, projecting her voice so she could be heard over the shouting. "I've apprehended Regina and she will remain in custody under my watch."

"She'll pay for what she did to us!" Granny shouted, chin quivering in fury while Ruby clapped her back in a show of solidarity. With that, the group began to surge forward collectively, bloodlust raging in their hardened eyes.

Swallowing, Emma put her hand out to stop them. "Wait! I know what she did to you – to _all _of you, and she will be made to pay for the Curse. But we have to allow due process of the law to–"

Emma was cut off by Leroy. "No way, sister. Forget that! She tried to ruin us! She took us from our homes and our families and made us suffer! Now it's time for us to take back what we lost and make her pay!" Once again, the enraged citizens shouted and cursed, charging directly at Emma with hands extended to push her out of the way.

Rage lodged itself painfully in Emma's chest, rising up to her head so fast that she nearly went dizzy from it. "I said STOP!" she bellowed, moving her hands to her hips. The impact of her voice rippled through the crowd and momentarily stilled them, the anger on their faces giving way to slack-jawed shock.

Thinking on her feet, Emma spoke to them again. "Think about what you're going to do! It's no less evil than anything that woman in there ever did to you. Remember all you've lost – your families, friends and loved ones. If you murder her, you will lose all of them again, but this time the only fault will be your own."

The noise of the crowd ceased nearly completely, save for a few stray murmurs, as all eyes watched her intently. Sensing that the tide was beginning to turn, she added, "Don't stoop to her level. Don't play her game. The only ones who will lose will be all of you, and you've already lost too much."

"She's right," David Nolan, the man formerly known as Prince Charming, declared to the gathering of people that had once been his royal subjects. He moved forward through the crowd with a gentle, though regal bearing as he spoke and came to stand at Emma's side. The sight of it tugged at her emotions as she locked eyes with the man she knew to be her long-lost father. He looked into hers deeply, smiling at her with a small nod of encouragement. Emma's lips formed a tight smile even as she felt the tears beginning to sting her eyes. In Storybrooke, she had known David to be a man with good and true intentions, though misguided into adultery by the love that not even Regina's curse could destroy. He had never lost his loyalty to Snow, so it was no wonder that he came to stand beside his daughter in a unified front.

"We cannot take an eye for an eye to correct the wrongs that have been done to us," Charming declared. "The crimes that the Queen committed were carried out in our land, not in this one. But the truth of the matter is that we are living in a place where the laws are very different than they were in our time, and we must decide on an ethical form of justice that befits both worlds."

"Banish her!"

"Put her to death!"

The shouts rang out immediately following Charming's decree, all voices of the crowd joining in the fray to create a cacophony. Emma cringed and glared down at the floor, fighting back the urge to scream at them all as she realized that the vast majority of the voices were crying out for a death sentence. Turning to her father, who was also visibly upset, she mouthed, "What do we do?"

He held up a finger to her, his features beginning to settle a bit as he formulated his next move.

"If I could have your attention, please!" Charming's voice rang out above the crowd, the chatter slowly dying down once again to hear him speak.

"Thank you," he continued. "It's fair to say that nobody is in the right frame of mind to make this decision right now, while the wounds are still fresh. We need time and perspective. We must form a council, as we did in our land, to decide the proper course of action."

The townspeople considered it, whispering and turning to one another with questioning looks in the eyes of all.

"Okay," Leroy relented, speaking once again for the group. "When?"

"Let's meet three days from now. This will give us all time to reunite with our loved ones. When we meet next, I expect that all will have a cool head and be focused on the task at hand. Emma will keep watch over Regina tonight and throughout the days ahead. Now please, let us return to our homes," Charming commanded, waving the group away with his hand.

Reluctantly, the prince's subjects began to retreat from the hallway. Stunned, Emma watched them shuffle away. Her father stayed behind.

"That," Emma breathed, struggling for words, "that was amazing! Thank you."

"Just goes to show you I still got it," Charming said to his daughter, a broad smile stretching across his face that lit his eyes. "You did pretty good, yourself, Emma."

"Thanks," she replied, casting her eyes downward as a flush began to color her face. So _this_ was what it felt like to be the child of a proud parent. "Guess now I know where I get it from!"

Charming laughed easily, smiling down at her with admiration. Then, his arms came up awkwardly at his sides and he hesitated.

"Can I–?" he began to ask, but his intent was already clear to Emma.

"Yes," she replied immediately, reaching out her own arms to him and stepped in for a hug. They held each other there silently for a moment, and though it was genuinely a heartfelt gesture, Emma could not help but feel somewhat strange in the arms of a man not much older than herself, and yet, was truly her father.

Slowly extricating herself from his arms, she stepped back and met his beaming smile again, noticing that his eyes were misting over as hers had just moments ago.

"We have a lot to catch up on," he stated, simply.

"Yeah, that's putting it lightly!" Emma agreed.

"All in due time, of course," Charming replied. The smile slowly faded from his face and his brow furrowed as he looked at her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Uh, sure," she replied, caught off-guard by his change in demeanor.

"Why were you so quick to come to Regina's defense?"

Emma frowned as she considered how to go about answering his question. She had several reasons, though her mind was at war over them and she hadn't yet had the time to process the conflicting feelings she'd been experiencing. When she finally spoke, she gave voice to the one reason that she had reiterated over and over in her mind as her prime motivation. She prayed that this was something her father would understand.

"It's Henry," she began. "That woman may have been the most evil, despicable creature in your world. I'm well aware of what she has done to all of you, and also to me. But I saw the way she looked at Henry when the Curse was broken. She looked so desperate. I think she truly believed that she had lost him forever. I saw her cry at his bedside and beg him to believe that she loved him."

"And she was telling the truth?" Charming asked, earnestly.

"Yes." Emma had always had an uncanny ability to discern lies from truth, and this was something she was absolutely certain of. If Regina could love no one else, she most definitely held love in her heart for her son, _their _son.

She continued. "And Henry was affected by it, too. He was afraid for her. She's his mother, he needs her."

"Emma, _you _are his mother," her father asserted, speaking gently but firmly.

"I am," she agreed, "but Regina is, too, whether we want to accept that or not. I was in no position to take care of a baby when I gave birth to him, so I had no choice but to put him up for adoption. She's been the only mother he knew until he found me."

Charming considered this carefully, a frown gracing his features. Then, after a few moments, he spoke. "So you want her to live?"

Emma nodded, but said nothing. Silence passed between them again as he processed this. "You know that the Council's decision will be final. I cannot overturn their vote should they choose execution."

"I know," Emma said, sadly.

"But I will do my best to see that they choose differently."

Gratitude overwhelmed her as she felt the tears burning at her eyes again, only this time she made no attempt to hide them. Voice constricted, she mouthed, "Thank you."

Emma felt the eyes of her father studying her closely, and for an agonizing moment she couldn't discern his expression. Perhaps he really thought she was out of her mind. But then his eyes softened and he reached out to hug her again. Pulling away slowly, he took Emma's hands into his own.

"Keep an eye on your charge, Sheriff," he commanded, although not without affection.

"I will," Emma promised.

She saw her father offer her a wink before he turned his back and began walking away from her down the hall. Though a small gesture, it warmed her heart and she began to feel that she already missed him as she watched his retreating figure disappear around the corner. She withdrew a sharp intake of breath to steady herself, then turned back to the door of her office where she knew the woman whose life depended on her was waiting on the other side.

Shivering, Emma crossed her arms over her chest and walked back inside the darkened room to face Regina.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: Holy SHIT was this chapter hard to write! So many emotions going on within both women, but especially Regina. She is just one hell of a complicated little lady, and though it's difficult to get into her head, I always feel so rewarded when I can bring her motivations to light in a way that will resonate with the reader. Not sure how anyone could ever hate our tortured little soul, Regina! And again, many thanks to all of you for your continuing support and reviews. You guys ROCK! Stay tuned for some twists and turns in this installment!

**Chapter 4**

Regina paced slowly back and forth across the floor of her cell, arms wrapped tightly around her middle as she listened to the shouting match of the townspeople, those who had once been her victims, now impassioned and crying out their murderous intent toward her. It was difficult to distinguish their words as they all yelled on top of each other, but the sheer vehemence in their voices seemed for all the world about to break down the very walls that separated them from her. She felt fear beginning to overtake her like icy fingers clawing at her heart, the blood quickly draining from her head in response. Frantically, she grasped for the bars in front of her, terrified that she was about to fall to the ground unconscious. Closing her eyes against the sensation, she forced herself to breathe.

Then, she felt the breath in her chest cease completely as Emma's voice rose above the crowd, clear and unwavering.

"I said STOP!"

Regina's eyes flew open, listening intently to the woman outside the door as she struggled to catch her breath. Her heart pounded erratically in her chest as she heard the piercing intensity in Emma's voice demanding the crowd to back down. It was not a sound unfamiliar to her; the two of them had fought each other tooth and nail over Henry from the day they met. But she had never once been the person the other woman fought to protect.

The brunette's lips fell open of their own accord as shock, rather than fear, rooted her to the very spot where she stood. She turned her ear toward the door, straining to hear Emma's words.

"Think about what you're going to do! It's no less evil than anything that woman in there ever did to you. Remember all you've lost – your families, friends and loved ones. If you murder her, you will lose all of them again, but this time the only fault will be your own."

And then, as if she hadn't been dealt enough surprises in the last few minutes, Regina heard yet another unlikely ally join in the fight – Charming. But as she heard him reason with the crowd and order an assembly of the War Council, she felt what little hope she'd held onto moments before plummeting. Of course, she should have known it would come to that. And she also knew no matter how much time passed – days, weeks, or even years, for that matter – that the people she had cursed would not hesitate to put an end to her life.

She spun around wildly looking for an exit that she knew was not there as instinct suddenly overwhelmed rational thought. Tears welled in her eyes and she pushed down the anguished scream she felt building in her chest. It did not matter how far she had run from her past or how fervently the love for her son, her Henry, had overtaken her heart; in that moment she knew she was powerless to escape her destiny to be the one person that was denied her happy ending.

From the first signs of the weakening of the Curse, Regina had been asking herself the same question over and over again: why hadn't she crushed these people like the pathetic little ants they were when she'd had the chance? At the time, she had thought she would much rather prolong their suffering until the end of time than allow them the dignity of an instant death. Part of that had proved to be true; every day she spent in Storybrooke, she had taken great satisfaction in knowing that she had leveled the playing field. It comforted her to know that if she couldn't have love, neither could anyone else. But had she known that she would live to see the day these idiots woke up from the Curse and gained back their happy endings, she would have struck them all dead at once.

Wrath began to fill her heart again as her thoughts shifted, a twisted smile creeping onto her crimson lips as a delightfully dark vision blossomed behind her eyes. She saw herself opening the gates to hell, casting each and every person she hated into the swirling, fiery pit below, their faces twisting away from her with screams of agony as they begged her for mercy. No, there would be no mercy this time.

As she indulged in this fantasy, she once again felt magic coursing through her body, the force of it so powerful this time that it sent shivers down her spine. Acting quickly, her eyes scanned the room for something – anything – that she could manipulate with her powers. Settling on the thin legal pad that sat on the edge of the desk across the room, she zeroed in for the kill and projected all her energy straight ahead at the thing. To her astonished delight, it began to move! She watched, mesmerized as it levitated nearly two inches above the desk. But then, just as before, the surge in her veins quickly leveled off and the object sank back down onto the desk.

And that last little failure was all it took for her to come undone. Furious, yet panic-stricken, a keening wail began to surface from her lungs but was choked off just as the sheriff came walking back into the room. Regina's dark eyes shot a piercing glare across the distance at the woman, but Emma's eyes were staring straight ahead, transfixed by the sight she had just seen take place on her desk. Her jaw dropped nearly to the floor, an expression somewhere between horror and awe forcing her eyes open wide.

"What the hell was that, Regina?" Emma shouted, whipping her head around to see her face peeking out from the iron bars, hands wrapped tightly around them. A chill shot down her spine as her eyes locked with the brunette's, their shadowy depths suddenly turning pitch black and swirling wildly with emotions she could not identify.

Regina panicked, knowing her weakness had been exposed to the last person on earth she had ever wanted to see it. Lashing out at the blonde, she growled, "This is all your fault!"

Emma was so completely taken aback by the force of Regina's accusation and the unbelievable sight she had just witnessed that she had to pause just to breathe. Then, stalking toward the cell she found her voice.

"What are you _talking_ about? I just saw you lift a fucking _notebook_ off the desk with your eyes! What did I have anything to do with it?"

Watching as Emma advanced on her, Regina felt the hot, angry tears beginning to sting at her throat. Struggling to speak, she threw her hands into the air and gestured grandly to the space around her in the jail cell.

"This! All of this! If you would have minded your own damn business and stayed away from me and my son, this would never have happened to me!"

"Did you _not_ just hear me trying to save your life out there?" Emma fumed.

She had. Of course she had. The tears that had been pooling in Regina's eyes began to spill heedlessly down her cheeks. Unable to speak and feeling suddenly ashamed of her outburst, she cast her eyes downward and nodded.

Emma was stunned by the effect her words were having on Regina as she witnessed her anger crumbling into despair. The atmosphere in the space between them grew palpably thicker, as did the silence. Utterly transfixed, she saw the way the dull glow of the lamp on her desk reflected in the sheen of tears on her face, a lock of raven hair hanging limply in front of her cheek. She felt pain keenly stabbing at her own chest as she watched the dark beauty sobbing silently before her. Then, without another thought, she went to Regina and sought out her hands through the iron bars.

Regina flinched initially at the touch and her head jerked up, but she made no attempt to break the contact. She felt the fight leave her as she locked eyes with the blonde.

"They're going to kill me, Emma," she breathed, barely above a whisper.

Emma shivered, though she wasn't sure if it was from the frightening truth in the other woman's admission or in the intimacy of hearing her own name on the other woman's tongue. She clasped Regina's fingers tighter, equally trying to impart her own strength and to seek reassurance in the other's touch.

"No," she uttered, her green eyes searing with the intensity of her promise. "I won't let them do that."

"So what do we do?" Regina asked, echoing the words Emma had spoken to her mere hours ago when their son's life hung in the balance.

Emma didn't have to think twice about it.

"We run."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Still with me? Excellent! Sorry for the delay. Got hit with a massive dose of life and a wee bit of writer's block, but alas, I've overcome it! A great BIG thank you goes out to my beta reader, SwansAndQueens, whose input and friendship I am tremendously grateful for! This has turned out to be the longest chapter yet…quite a lot of emotions to work through at this point in the story, so I hope it was worth the wait. Let me know what you think!

**Chapter 5**

Deep in thought, Emma paced back and forth on the tile floor of her office, nervously tugging her long blonde hair behind her head as sweat began to form on the back of her neck. Regina watched all of this from the dark recesses of the cell as she sat perched on the cot in the corner.

"Emma–" she began.

"I'm thinking!" she snapped.

"Well, think _faster_!" Regina demanded urgently, fixing a severe glare upon the other woman.

"Can't you just use your magic and make yourself disappear?" Emma shot back, returning the glare.

"As much as I'm sure you would like that, I can't," Regina responded, earnestly.

"And how do I know that's true? I saw you lift that notebook off the desk just by looking at it."

"I did," the brunette admitted. "But that seems to be as much as I can do. I've already tried and failed several times before."

Emma fixed her with a look of hesitant disbelief.

"Haven't you realized by now that I was trying to use my power to get rid of you when you showed up at my house? When I reached out for you, I fully intended to smash you up against the door."

_I'm sure you did_, Emma smirked, noting the other woman's fascinating choice of words. But she knew she couldn't be so quick to trust Regina. She could very well be acting defenseless, taking advantage of her kindness before throwing her to the lions. If the two of them were discovered trying to escape, she knew it would be the end of her, too. She was not about to put her own life on the line for the woman unless she knew she was telling the absolute truth.

"Then prove it again," Emma challenged, crossing the room to stand before her at the bars.

Regina sighed. Apparently being reduced to tears in front of the other woman – a moment of weakness she'd immediately regretted – wasn't enough to get through her thick skull. She didn't know if there was any way to prove it to her, to make the other woman feel the way the magic built up inside her before withering away. But she had to try.

"Give me your hands," she commanded.

Warily eyeing her, Emma acquiesced. Regina grasped her fingers and she watched the brunette's eyes close, her brows furrowing deeply with concentration. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to be feeling and as moment after moment passed by, she began to doubt that anything would happen. That could only mean two things: either Regina was lying to her and suppressing her powers, or the woman really was defenseless.

Then, suddenly, she jumped at the tingling sensation that surged into her hands. It was the strangest thing she'd ever experienced; almost like being shocked by static electricity, but much more powerful, the vibration of it overtaking her entire body from head to toe. She gasped, eyes flying wide open to see the change in Regina, but the other woman's eyes remained closed, the strain on her face even more evident than before as she worked fastidiously to maintain her power. She realized that the brunette was holding her breath as she saw her force it out, cheeks flushed and gasping for more air as she struggled. Immediately the sensation in Emma's limbs dwindled until she felt no different than she had moments before.

Regina broke the contact first, staggering back a few paces into the cell.

"Is that enough proof for you?" she rasped, defensively, still trying to catch her breath.

At a loss for words, Emma nodded rapidly. So she hadn't been lying after all. She knew in the pit of her stomach that there was no way Regina could fight off an attack of the magnitude the rest of the town was planning to unleash on her. She had to get her out of Storybrooke immediately.

Sinking down on the couch beside the cell, Emma closed her eyes as her hands came up to shield her temples. She was trying to scour her memory for someone, anyone she knew that would be willing to take in a stranger and not ask too many questions – not an easy task for anyone, to be sure, but especially not for a loner like her who had very few good friends.  
Boston seemed to be the most viable option, as she still had some contacts there that she'd maintained, but then again it might be too obvious. Gossip had traveled quickly upon Emma's arrival in Storybrooke from the big city, and she doubted anyone had forgotten where she came from. But maybe no one would look if she found some place a little bit more remote…

_Yes! _She knew exactly who to call. Standing abruptly, she reached for the cell phone in her pocket.

"Be right back," she promised Regina over her shoulder. She walked briskly toward the questioning area and shut the door behind her, leaving the brunette alone to wonder in her own nail-biting suspense.

Closing her eyes as she tossed her head back against the stiff brick wall of the cell, Regina found herself silently praying, hoping that it wasn't too much to ask for two miracles in one day. Henry's life had been spared, and for that she could not have been more grateful; now she prayed that she wasn't so far beyond redemption that even a higher power wouldn't hear her plea for her own life.

Behind the closed doors of the room, Emma scrolled through the contacts on her phone until she came upon Michelle Tiller. Michelle and her husband, Scott, owned a small bed and breakfast in Rockport, MA, just about an hour north of Boston. A few months before her arrival in Storybrooke, the couple's 17 year-old son Trevor had stolen money from them and went on the run with his girlfriend, who they later discovered was pregnant. Emma had been hired by the couple to post their son's bail after his arrest. And though she had always been able to keep her emotions out of her work in the past, this case had struck a particular chord with her. She too had once been a young, terrified pregnant girl, though she had been completely abandoned by Henry's father and left to fend for herself in the juvie system. Despite her brief time with Trevor and his family, her instincts told her immediately that he was a good kid – though scared shitless into making the biggest mistake of his life – who was just trying desperately to provide for the girl he loved and his child. His parents knew it, too, and had hired Emma to post his bail after his arrest. She had stayed in contact with the family after the ordeal and had become particularly close with Michelle, who had never ceased to express her gratitude for Emma's actions.

Emma's finger hovered over the 'send' button on the phone. It was nearing midnight, and she knew the couple would most likely be sleeping by now. She hadn't spoken to Michelle much since her arrival in Storybrooke, aside from calling her to ask if she could pack her belongings and send them to her. That had been a huge favor in and of itself, but Michelle had delivered. She just hoped her friend would be as obliging as she'd been before.

Biting her lip, Emma took the plunge and made the call. Moments later, to her amazement, her friend picked up.

"Michelle!" Emma exclaimed, releasing the breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding.

"Emma! What's going on, is everything okay?"

"Not exactly," she began, fighting for the right words to say. How in the hell were you supposed to ask someone to harbor a fugitive that was running from crimes committed as the Evil Queen of an alternate universe?

Thinking quickly on her feet, she continued. "I need help. I'm with the woman that adopted my son and we need a place to stay. There's someone that wants to hurt her and I need to get her out of town immediately." Okay, so it was actually an entire _town_ that wanted her dead. One small little lie, but absolutely necessary.

"Wow, um," Emma heard the other woman struggling for words, herself, as she considered the implications. "Well, you're not being followed now, right?"

"No," Emma confirmed. "And I'll make damn sure that we're not."

There was silence on the other end that stretched on long enough for Emma to think the call had been dropped or that she'd been hung up on. But then, to her relief, she heard Michelle's voice again.

"Okay," she relented. "Just be safe, Emma, alright?"

"You have my word," she promised. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means!"

"Anytime," Michelle said, warmly.

Emma ended the call and shoved the phone back into her jeans pocket, stepping out of the room and back into the lock-up area. Regina got to her feet immediately upon hearing the door open, her eyes wide with anticipation.

"Well?"

"Success! I found a place."

"Oh, thank God," Regina breathed, letting her forehead fall onto the bars in front of her. "Where are you taking me?"

"To my friends' bed and breakfast in Massachusetts. It's about a two hour drive from here, so we gotta figure out a way to get out of here quickly," Emma elaborated, eyes darting around the room as she tried to formulate an escape plan.

"Bed and breakfast? Well, Miss Swan, I must say I'm impressed. I certainly hope you reserved the honeymoon suite for me."

Emma's head snapped up, completely taken by surprise by the playfulness that had returned to the brunette's voice and the glimmer in her eye.

"Really? I'm about to save your life, and you think this is the time to make demands?" Emma groaned, though she couldn't quite contain the amused grin forming on her lips.

"Just a joke, dear," Regina relented, throwing her hands out in a mock gesture of surrender. "We could use more of that right now."

"That's for damn sure," Emma muttered in agreement.

xXxXx

About a half hour later, Emma found herself behind the wheel of her Bug. She gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles, eyes never veering from the endless stretch of asphalt ahead. The treetops loomed menacingly above, blackened by a moonless night, the thick forest canopy encroaching from both sides of the country road she was flying down at breakneck speed. Adrenaline coursed through her veins like a live wire, her stomach twisting and turning in knots. She felt sick to the core, feeling more strongly with every passing second that what she was doing was wrong. Years ago, she'd experienced unspeakable horrors during her lock-up in juvenile detention that had altered her forever. When she was released, she had made the decision then and there to live straight and never look back. For the past ten years she had prided herself on fighting for the right side of the law; never once could she have imagined that she'd be helping a convict to escape.

But then, Regina hadn't been convicted of anything – yet. Her side of the story had yet to be told, although Emma was sure she was already decidedly guilty in the court of public opinion. If she were to let the people of Storybrooke determine her fate, she knew Regina would die at their hands. And if she were to stand by and witness a murder without doing anything to fight for the victim, well, that might be the biggest regret she'd ever live with.

"For God's sake, are you going to make me stay down here all night?" came Regina's muffled complaint from the back seat.

_Jesus!_, Emma muttered under her breath, nearly jumping out of her skin at the sound of Regina's voice. She had put her on the floor of the back seat and thrown a sheet over her so they wouldn't be seen leaving town together. Thankfully, the sheriff station was located fairly close to the back roads, so she didn't have to drive straight through downtown Storybrooke, but she wasn't about to take any risks. In true form, Regina had grumbled about that – Emma recalled it going something like_, "If I survive this thing, you are going to have hell to pay" – _and she couldn't help but smirk at the comment. She rather enjoyed being the subject of the mayor's wrath.

Returning back to the present, Emma eyed the mile marker she was nearing along the side of the road. They had passed the 'Leaving Storybrooke' sign without incident (she'd held her breath at that moment) about seven miles back, and there were no signs of other traffic on the road for miles behind or ahead of them.

"Maybe I should. I kinda like seeing you pissed off," Emma admitted with a grin.

But with one final glance in her rearview mirror, she slowed the car and guided it to the dirt shoulder. Sliding free of her seat belt, she threw open the door and climbed out onto the road. Pulling open the back door, she bent down to pull the sheet off of Regina, who winced as she tried to sit up.

"Here," Emma said, extending her hand to the brunette. Regina grasped it, struggling out of the car on tired, aching muscles. Emma helped her stand on her feet, hands gently pressed to her shoulders to steady her.

"Thank you," Regina said genuinely, tilting her chin up to look at her. Emma paused for a moment, taking stock of the softness in those large, brown eyes. At any other time she might have thought Regina was tricking her, trying to lull her into a false sense of complacency before she struck out at her again. But there was no cutting remark that followed, no threats. Just real gratitude.

Emma felt her jaw go slack, not quite knowing how to respond. But then she offered up a small smile of reassurance. Regina's lips curled upward in response and their eyes held in the darkness of the night for a few lingering moments. The tender warmth Emma saw radiating from her gaze – so vastly different from the frigid glare she'd seen in them so many times before – shocked her to her very soul. In that moment she was utterly helpless, feet firmly rooted to the ground she stood on as her heartbeat pounded fiercely against her ribcage. Time seemed to expand, the scene playing out before her in slow motion as Regina took a step toward her, eyes fluttering shut, lips parted.

Acting completely on instinct, Emma reached out for the other woman's shoulders and gently pushed back, holding her at a distance. She couldn't let this happen, not after the way she'd been tricked earlier.

Regina stepped back against the car, a look of frustrated confusion creasing her brow. Her arms came down to hang limply at her sides and she opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, Emma cut in.

"What are you trying to do, Regina?" She wasn't stupid; there was no mistaking that she'd been a hair's breadth away from kissing her again. Flashes of the two of them sprawled out on the floor flooded her memory. She vividly recalled the desire burning in Regina's dark eyes as she lunged for her and their lips met head-on. But had it been real? She'd be damned if she let her hopes get the best of her.

The brunette stood speechless before her, flabbergasted. Emma inwardly smirked at that, realizing that this had to be the first time the other woman hadn't had a smart remark at the ready to taunt her. An amused grin began to tug at her lips. Try as she might to hide it, Regina wanted her. Badly.

Emma was thoroughly enjoying the prospect of drawing a confession out of her. Taking a step closer to Regina, she thrust her thumbs in her pocket and spoke.

"So what made you kiss me earlier when I was trying to arrest you?" she challenged, a sly grin beginning to form on her lips. She watched as the emotions suddenly shifted on the other woman's face, her lips forming a tight, mirthless smile, dark eyes hardening into a stony glare.

"I thought that was obvious, dear. I was trying to catch you off-guard so I could get away," Regina said, condescendingly.

"But then why would you tell me I was good?" she pressed.

"Don't flatter yourself, Sheriff," Regina scoffed, though there was a hint of playfulness in her smile. "I was merely referring to your fighting abilities."

"Uh huh," Emma replied, fixing the brunette with disbelieving, narrowed eyes. She should have known those walls of hers would come flying back up at the first sign that she was onto Regina's game.

"Come on," she said, guiding the other woman around the back of the car with a hand on the small of her back. She helped Regina inside, and as she walked back around to her side of the car she couldn't help but imagine what would have happened if she'd let that moment on the road continue a second or two longer. Whatever the potential outcome may have been, she'd stopped it cold in its tracks.

With a deep sigh, Emma got back inside and buckled up, throwing the car into drive again. In the seat beside her, Regina studied her movements in the pale light reflecting back from the dashboard. The blonde's eyes were trained straight ahead, narrowed as if in deep thought, her lips set in a grim line. As silence set in between them, Regina turned her head toward the window and watched the trees whizzing past them with curious eyes.

"You know, I've never gone outside of Storybrooke before," the mayor blurted. The woods here were really no different than the ones in Storybrooke, but then again, she'd never been able to venture outside of city limits before. She had been just as trapped by her own curse as everyone else in town.

"No?" Emma asked, surprised. "What, you didn't think to put a loophole in the Curse for yourself?"

"It just doesn't work like that," she explained. "I knew we'd be going to a new world, but I had no idea how limited it would be. It didn't take very long to figure out that crossing over the border caused bad things to happen to anyone that tried, so I never did."

Emma nodded, then glanced over at Regina, taking in the wistful, far-off look in the brunette's eyes as she watched the road ahead. It was rather fascinating that the woman responsible for ending everybody's lives as they knew them in the old world had unwittingly trapped herself right along with them. She had so many questions she wanted to ask her – what made her enact the Curse? Why did she hate her mother, Snow? And what the hell was it that had turned her into such a cold, ruthless bitch?

In the seat beside her, Regina was deep in her own thoughts about the other woman and the unbelievable predicament they'd found themselves tangled up in together. She hadn't quite gotten over her amazement at the way Emma fought for her back at the station. It was the last thing she'd expected from the woman she'd considered to be her sworn rival from the moment they met. Perplexing, indeed, how Emma had come to her rescue.

Regina's thoughts drifted back to a much different place in time, long before she'd cast the curse. From the time she'd been a young girl in her parents' modest country home, she'd never had anyone stand up for her before. True, her father had loved her with all his heart, but he was powerless against her strong-willed, single-minded mother who controlled them both. He'd been silent when she needed him most, when her mother signed her life away to become King Leopold's bride. Later, as Queen, she'd had all the protection she ever needed in the guardsmen sworn to defend her. Their devotion, of course, was out of duty alone. And then there was Sidney, who had fallen in love with her at first sight as the Genie. The man had blindly worshipped the ground she walked on without knowing a thing about her, without knowing the darkness that hid inside her heart or the plan she'd designed to coerce him into murdering her husband.

But then there was Emma. She was completely different. Unaffected by the Curse, she had seen through her designs from the start. She had felt it acutely when they locked horns underneath her apple tree, the branches Emma had violently destroyed with her chainsaw lying strewn about their feet. The bitch had looked her squarely in the eyes and thrown her words back in her face, _"Sister, you have no idea what _I'm _capable of." _In that moment, Regina had known that at long last she'd found a formidable opponent, someone tenacious enough to stand up to her. The realization was infuriating, terrifying, and yet, absolutely thrilling.

Yes, Emma had seen her at her very worst – scheming, lying, and even contriving the murder frame-job against her own mother. She had seen the fury in the blonde's eyes during their many stand-offs. Whether it was over Henry or Mary Margaret, she knew that Emma would stop at nothing to defend her family. That was why it was so utterly baffling that she had fought to save her life, when all she had ever done was stand in the way between Emma and the ones she loved. She had to know why.

"Emma, why are you doing this?" She spoke gently, her voice tinged with both wonder and disbelief.

Emma swallowed, sensing Regina's eyes upon her face from the corner of her eye. Recovering quickly, she steeled her resolve and gave her the answer she'd been rehearsing all night.

"I'm doing this for Henry. I thought I told you that earlier?"

Regina didn't buy it. She had seen the fear in Emma's eyes back at the station when the mob showed up, heard the conviction in her voice when she demanded them to step down, felt it in the way her soft lips had pushed urgently against her own.

"Is that the only reason?" Regina's voice was lower this time, laden with meaning.

Emma chanced another look at the woman beside her, seeing the hints of a devilish smile tugging at those red lips. Quickly, she turned her focus back to the road and recovered.

"Look, I told you I'm doing this for our son. He doesn't want to lose you, either." _Shit. _She hadn't meant to say that last word, implicating herself and her own feelings. But there it was.

Regina nodded slowly beside her, the meaning of the blonde's words not lost on her one bit. Really, she had always known Emma was attracted to her. She'd seen desire burning in those green eyes when she'd meant to project disdain, sensed her hungry gaze upon her whenever she'd had her back turned. But she'd also known how much Emma despised her and sought to destroy her; up until now, that desire had always overridden the other, much more hidden drive. Could it be that the tide was finally turning?

"Did you hear me, Regina?" Emma asked, her voice bringing the other woman out of her reverie.

"Yes," she responded, quickly. "But Henry…he knew about me, he wanted me dead just like everyone else."

At this, Emma smiled and turned her eyes to her passenger. "No, he didn't."

"Are you sure?" Regina wasn't sure she could believe that. Ever since Henry had discovered her true identity as the Evil Queen, he had railed against her, looking upon her with abject disgust. She had been sure that she'd lost his affection for good, even despite her tearful bedside confession.

"What you said to him earlier," Emma started, "he believed you. And for that matter, so did I. I saw it in the way you looked at him. When you left, the kid was terrified. We both knew you were in danger. So I promised him I'd make sure nothing happened to you."

Regina's breath caught in her chest, tears beginning to form in her eyes once again. Her son had believed her after all. She had laid her heart bare in one last, desperate attempt to hold onto him, all the while feeling certain that it was too little, too late. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Thank you," she breathed, her voice strangled by the lump forming in her throat.

Emma heard the other woman choking back her sobs, and it was unsettling to her. This was not the calculating monster of a woman she'd been so used to trading jabs with.

"You'd better quit that, Madame Mayor," she teased. "You're starting to lose your icy exterior."

Regina chuckled at that, feeling light and warm as real, genuine laughter overwhelmed her for the first time in ages. And it was contagious. Emma, who'd been studying her intently a moment ago, smiled at her brightly, completely unable to stop the giggles that rose up from her chest.

It was absurd, really – both of them knew it. There they were, running from a town full of people that wanted nothing more than to kill one of them. But in that moment as they laughed together, all else was forgotten.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Well I don't know about you ladies, but I am *STILL* floored by all the wonderful Swan Queen tidbits that got thrown our way from Comic Con 2012! I was so utterly dumbstruck for the entire weekend that I could barely form a coherent thought, let alone write…haha! Seeing Lana and Jen finally in a photo together certainly proved to me what a damn fine-looking couple Emma and Regina would make. But then, that was all the more reason for me to pick my jaw up off the floor and take up the pen again to bring our two favorite ladies and their budding romance to life. That being said, I can't thank you all enough for the continued reviews, favorites and follows! I really do thrive on the feedback and certainly hope you are happy with the journey. I know it's frustrating not knowing why Regina's lost her magic, but trust me, there is a very good reason for that and it will be explained in time. Sexy times are coming soon, as well. ;) As always, please give me a shout if you're enjoying the ride. I love hearing from each and every one of you!

**Chapter 6**

The chill of the night air buffeted rhythmically against Regina's face, flooding in from the half-open window as the Bug sped noisily down the lonely expanse of I-95. Her eyelids slipped shut against the invigorating sensation, enjoying the way it cooled the breath in her lungs and soothed her exhausted, red-rimmed eyes. This, too, was something completely new to her; there were no major highways cutting through Storybrooke, of course, except what lay beyond the town's borders. And needless to say, riding along in her royal carriage of the old world didn't hold a candle to blazing down the open road in Emma's car, thundering old Jalopy though it was.

A few moments passed by, when the labored roar of the engine and the whistling wind that had so enthralled her began to recede into a mere whisper and she began to succumb to the hazy edges of sleep.

Even in the darkness, Emma could sense the peacefulness that had suddenly settled over her refugee. Glancing beside her, she watched as the brunette's head slowly lolled to the side, shoulders slumped, her lips slightly parted. She could not help but marvel at the sight, all of the vitriol and defensiveness in Regina's rigid posture suddenly giving way to an almost childlike tranquility as she slept.

_She's so beautiful. _The sudden realization rose unbidden from the depths of her subconscious, and with it, an immediate warmth clenched inside her chest. _Does she always look this way when she sleeps? _

With effort, Emma returned her eyes to the road ahead and resisted the urge to reach out and touch her hand to the soft skin of Regina's cheek. She was amazed that the other woman could sleep at all in the present circumstances and was reluctant to disturb her. She turned her focus instead to the white lines that stretched out ahead of her and the hypnotizing effect they had as they spun past her view in the windshield one by one. Her headlights dimly reflected a green road sign ahead in the distance. As she got nearer, she read "Piscataqua Bridge: 2 Miles", which meant they were rapidly approaching the New Hampshire border.

So despite her previous thoughts, Emma reached out a tentative hand to the sleeping form beside her and gently laid it on her shoulder. Regina stirred suddenly at the touch, her head snapping back up, eyes fluttering open.

"Wha-?" she mumbled, clumsily.

"We're almost to New Hampshire."

"Ugh. Why did you wake me up?" Regina protested with a groan.

"You said you wanted to see the state sign!" Emma insisted. And it was true. Regina had mentioned it earlier, asking her to wake her up for it. She'd been pretty amused by the eagerness of the other woman's request – after all, she, herself had become very detached to the novelty of crossing over state lines, having lived like a nomad nearly her entire adult life. But then she'd reminded herself that all of this was a completely new experience for the other woman.

Regina hummed wordlessly, Emma's answer pacifying her for the moment. Turning her eyes to the window again, she looked up at the sky and noticed it was brighter here, the proximity of the lights of civilization lending it a hazy amber hue. She knew that her son had passed over these very same roads some months ago and she found herself imagining what his face would have looked like peering out of the bus at the night sky above.

Of course, she had been beside herself with worry when she'd discovered he had went missing, and that worry had only deepened into paranoia and a slow-burning rage when she'd discovered that he had left her to find his birth mother. Time had spiraled rapidly forward from the night he'd shown up at her doorstep with Emma, and all that time she'd been so consumed with the fear of losing him to the other woman that up until that moment, she had never once considered what he must have been feeling during the journey. How brave he had been to leave home on his own, to leave behind everything he had ever known for an uncertainty that lay ahead.

"Will you bring him to me? To visit?" she found herself asking, astonished by how small and meek her voice sounded as it punctuated the stillness inside the car.

Beside her, Emma swallowed, hesitating. She was taking the biggest risk imaginable by sneaking Regina across state lines to safety, and she hadn't even begun to consider the dangers of coming back, let alone with their son. But she heard the urgent desperation in the other woman's voice and felt her dark eyes probing for hers in the darkness, seeking consolation. Funny, she'd never had any qualms about standing up to the mayor before. She had quite enjoyed those moments when she'd been able to tell her "no," but now she found herself incapable of uttering the word that would surely shatter her heart.

"It won't be easy. But I will do whatever I can," she vowed, turning her face to lock eyes with the brunette. She saw the pained smile of gratitude that broke through her features, the tightness of her dark eyes that were brimming with tears once again. The sight made her own heart ache for her, and she knew then that she could not, _would not_ fail her.

"Hey," she said, taking her hand from the wheel to seek out Regina's fingers. "It's gonna be okay."

Regina's gaze shot down to the hand that grazed her lap and reached for her own, her breath catching in her throat from the contact. She felt the blonde's fingers squeezing hers, the strength of the gesture echoing the firmness of her spoken promise. But even as Emma continued to hold her hand, the ever-present seed of doubt in her heart refused to dissipate. She had to prepare herself to accept that in running away, she may have run from Henry for good.

Gradually the trees lining the road began to give way to the lights of the harbor town and the shimmering waters of the river below. The massive steel arch of the bridge ahead came into view, the road that stretched out before them growing obscure by the sharp incline the car approached. Regina turned her head to look outside her window, seeing a glowing clock tower in the distance that rose above the brick buildings and quaint homes of the quiet town. Minus the gargantuan bridge, it actually did look very similar to Storybrooke.

"Check it out," Emma said, extracting her hand from Regina's to point out the window at the sign that read, "Welcome to New Hampshire: The Granite State".

"How long until we get to your friends' place?" Regina asked, eyes still gazing at the town outside her window.

Emma smiled, the Mayor's comment bringing to mind the classic "are we there yet?" question that she'd heard Henry ask when they'd made the trip into Storybrooke all those months ago.

"About an hour," she replied.

"Not with the way _you _drive," Regina shot back with a smirk.

"Okay, maybe not quite that long," Emma admitted. Normally she was quite a speed demon, but even more so tonight, given the gravity of their current situation.

Silence came to pass between them for a while, the only sounds the steady hum of the engine and the wind rushing by. Regina studied her hands in her lap, clasped tightly together. It was unnerving not to know where she was being taken, to be oblivious to whom and what waited for her at the end of the journey.

"Can we trust your friends?" she asked, turning to face Emma.

Emma was startled by the question, but she answered immediately, "Of Course." Why on earth would she go out of her way to sneak Regina away from those who wanted to kill her, only to lead her into another dangerous situation?

"You don't make friends easily," the brunette gently reminded her. "How do you know these people?"

Emma bristled initially at Regina's comment – _who is she to judge?_ – but she knew she was right.

"I met them about a year ago," she started, feeling not just a little sheepish as the woman beside her fixed her eyes on her in the darkness, listening intently. "I worked for them, put up the bail for their 17-year old son. He took money from them and ran away with his girlfriend. No one understood why at the time…it was so unlike him. Trevor was a good kid, model student and all of that. Even when he was in custody, he wouldn't admit why he'd done it. But his parents sent me to post the bail, anyway. I could see how much their concern for him outweighed their anger about what he had done, so I did what I could to coax a confession out of him. He told me that his girlfriend was pregnant and begged me not tell his parents. The kid was terrified, which is why he ran in the first place. He didn't think they'd ever forgive him if he had just come out and told them the truth."

"But they did?" the brunette prompted.

"Yes. Of course they were furious with him, but they quickly got over that. Apparently I was the only one that was able to get the truth out of him. He wasn't talking to anyone when he was in custody. But they're good people, Scott and Michelle. I saw that immediately. And Trevor's a good kid, too, despite what he did. It's not often you see a teenage boy fighting to protect the girl he knocked up and their unborn child."

Regina nodded, turning her eyes back to the road as the blonde fell silent. She knew that Emma had been pregnant with Henry as a teenager. When the woman had first come to Storybrooke, she'd had Sidney hack into her criminal records and found out that she'd given birth to her son while she'd been locked up in juvie. Of course she'd been disgusted at the revelation, but simultaneously thrilled when she realized she could use this as leverage to paint the blonde as a trashy, unfit mother and send her packing her bags for good. But now, as reluctant as she still was to admit it, Emma had become a good mother to Henry. She knew the other woman had come to love her son as much as she did; she'd seen her risk her own life to save his more than once. And so, try as she might to malign her, Regina knew Emma had only his best interests at heart. She knew nothing about the child's father, but she sensed from the words the other woman left unsaid that he was not exactly a hero. Still, she had to know.

"What was Henry's father like?"

Emma stiffened at the question that pierced the silence, her fingernails biting hard into the steering wheel. This was not something she ever spoke about, not even to those she trusted. She had lied to Henry about him in order to protect him from a truth that was too painful to speak of.

"Regina–" she spoke warily, her voice low and full of warning.

"Please," Regina cut in, knowing full well that the blonde would try to dodge the question. "I just want to know. I always have."

"What, so you can go back to Henry with it and use it against me?" Emma snapped. She wasn't about to let her guard down so easily, not for the woman who had done nothing but try to cut her off from knowing her son.

"And when would I have the opportunity to do that, Miss Swan? Do I need to remind you that he's been left entirely in your care? You won. He's yours now. And I'm fairly certain that after you drop me off, I won't be seeing you or _him _ever again," Regina spat, wounded.

Emma's mouth fell open to speak, but she was completely taken aback and couldn't find words. Realization sank in that the other woman didn't trust her, either, despite the promise she'd made to bring Henry to see her. Unbelievable. After pleading with the townspeople to spare her life and then driving her across state lines to safety, it still wasn't enough. Without quite understanding why, she felt that she desperately wanted to break through those walls Regina had so carefully built up around herself.

"That's not true. I gave you my word, and I intend to keep it," Emma spoke with firm resolve, turning her face to look at the brunette. She met her eyes in the darkness, willing the other woman to believe her.

"Then I give you mine," Regina said evenly, tilting her chin upward at the blonde, her dark eyes unblinking. Emma studied her face, searching for any sign of deceit, but her gut told her that the woman's vow was genuine.

"He was a cop," Emma began reluctantly, releasing the breath she'd been holding in her chest. She could hardly believe she was telling this story, let alone to Regina of all people, but she forced herself to continue. "I was living in a particularly bad home at the time. I was…abused…by my foster dad. So I ran. Managed to stay off the radar for about a week, but then I got caught and they sent me to juvie. I would have much rather stayed there than be sent back, but it was my first offense. They don't keep kids there for too long if it's a first or non-violent offense, so they sent me home and assigned me a parole officer. At first I resented him and I lashed out at him and anyone that would listen. I was safer on the streets than I ever was sharing a roof with that horrible man. But Daniel was the only one that listened, the only one who cared. He showed me kindness when no one else would. So we talked a lot…the parole meetings started getting longer, and eventually we began meeting outside of them. I started to have feelings for him. I felt safe with him, and I couldn't stand being apart. He told me that he loved me, too. It was the first time I'd ever heard anyone say those words to me. I knew he was married, but he told me that he and his wife fought all the time. He promised he was going to leave her for me when I turned eighteen, and I believed him. So when I told him I was pregnant, I was sure we'd find a way to make it work. Instead, he told me he never wanted to see me again."

"I'm sorry," Regina breathed, concern creasing lines on her forehead. "But then, how did you end up back in juvie again?"

"That's where this gets truly twisted," Emma said with a nervous laugh. "I begged him to take me back. It was pathetic, really. But I was so desperate to be loved and I'd been so convinced that he was the one that would save me. I knew where he lived, so I went to his house one night and refused to leave until he spoke to me. _That _pissed him off. So he came out, but what I didn't know was that he had called the police when he was in the house. He reported me as truant. So he put me in his car and hauled me back to the station. When we got there, he produced a bag of coke and told his superiors that he found me on the street trying to sell it. To this day I have no idea where he got it. I knew he was a snake, but I never realized he was a crooked cop on top of all of that. So they threw me into the slammer. It was my second offense, and obviously, a huge one. I didn't get out until a few months after Henry was born."

"What a bastard," Regina growled, blood boiling underneath her skin. She'd always sensed that the guy must have mistreated her, but nothing could have prepared her for such an ugly truth. There was no doubt in her mind that if she ever came across the man on the street, she'd eviscerate him on the spot for causing Emma so much pain and suffering.

"Yeah. That doesn't even begin to cover it," Emma agreed, letting out her breath in a sigh. She was amazed that she'd been able to get through the story without getting emotional, but then, she'd never really told anyone the entire thing. She had forced herself to move on and live her life without turning back or giving it a second thought. Perhaps she had numbed herself to the pain from ignoring it for so many years. But strangely enough, she felt lighter after revealing her dark secret to the other woman, as if doing so had released a burden she'd unknowingly carried in her heart.

"So you adopting Henry was really the best thing that could have happened to him," she explained, turning her eyes to the brunette again. Then, she asked the question that had burned at her from the moment she met the other woman. "What made you decide to take him in?"

Regina balked under the scrutiny of the blonde's gaze, and she looked away, clearing her throat.

Sensing her hesitation, Emma spoke again. "Come on, Regina. I just spilled my guts to you. You can trust me."

_Can I?_ Regina asked herself, turning her face back toward the blonde that was once again studying her. She had learned to trust no one after all the hardships that had come to pass in her own life. There had been some comfort in being self-reliant, in knowing that she didn't need anyone else to get by. But if she really asked herself if she'd been content all those years without truly confiding in another soul, she had to admit that she wasn't.

"Where I came from, before Storybrooke, there was a belief that you only had one true love. There was a Daniel in my life, too," she admitted, noting the strange irony that both of their first loves had been given the same name. "He was the stable hand on my parents' estate. I fell head-over-heels in love with him, spent every moment thinking of him when I wasn't by his side. My mother would never have approved of him…she wanted me to marry up. She was only concerned about elevating her status in society by seeing to it that I married into nobility. So I continued to see Daniel in secret. But my mother had her own ideas and," she paused at this, careful not to reveal the role Emma's mother, Snow, had played in the tragedy. "Somehow she managed to secure a marriage proposal from the king. I was distraught and immediately I sought out Daniel to tell him the news. It didn't matter to me that I was going to be Queen, I didn't want any of that. I told him that I wanted to run away with him. We were so close to leaving, but then my mother found us in the stable. She killed him on the spot."

"_Killed _him?" Emma asked, incredulously. "Are you serious?"

"Completely. She was an evil woman, dear. You cannot even begin to imagine how cruel she was. So I had nowhere to run, I had to marry the king. I never loved him, and he never really loved me, either. I was…lonely. That didn't change when I came to this world. I'd always wanted to have a child of my own, but Daniel was gone. No true love, no child. I knew I had to do it on my own, and so I did. Henry was my happy ending."

"Wow," Emma said, quite taken aback by the sheer sadness of the other woman's story. "You don't really believe that, do you?"

"Believe what?"

"That you can only have one true love?" Emma questioned. The concept was so foreign to her that it was almost laughable. But then, she knew nothing about the world Regina and all of those in Storybrooke had come from. Perhaps that really had been the law of the land there. Did that mean that the truth they had all lived by in their world had to carry over into this one?

"I'm not sure," Regina admitted. In any case, she'd never thought of it after she lost Daniel.

Emma hummed, drumming her fingertips on the steering wheel as she contemplated the other woman's startling confession. The irony wasn't lost on her that the two of them were cautiously forging a kinship based on shared pain and hardship. There was a certain comfort in finally knowing what she'd always suspected – that underneath the hardened mask of apathy she constantly wore, the woman was every bit as messed up as she was.

xXxXx

Regina had been right, of course. Not quite an hour had passed, and Emma had managed to get them out of New Hampshire and across the border into Massachusetts. As the Bug inched up the gravel driveway of the bed and breakfast, Regina took in the sight of the massive, white Colonial mansion. There were three stories, six windows to each one, and two brick chimneys rising from both sides of the building. The driveway seemed to stretch on endlessly into the black, churning waters of the bay that the home bordered. She breathed in the salty sea air that wafted through the window, listening to the sound of the waves lapping against the shore.

"It's beautiful," she spoke, quite awed by the breathtaking scenery.

"Just wait until you see the inside. I think you're gonna love it," Emma said, with a grin. Pulling her cell phone from her jacket, she scrolled through her contacts again and found Michelle's number.

While Emma called her friend to announce their arrival, Regina resumed her study of the place. The back yard of the old mansion was immense and meticulously decorated. There were a few umbrella-laden glass tables and matching wrought iron chairs lining the flagstone patio. A patio swing with a canopy stood modestly underneath a large oak tree that bordered the edge of the property where the grass gave way to dark, wet sand. Golden daffodils and white lilies lined the edges of the patio, while vibrant red and violet impatiens sprang forth from two planters on either side of the French door. It was like a scene from a classic painting. _Absolutely gorgeous._

"Okay, let's go," Emma said to her, pulling the phone away from her ear and tucking it back in her pocket. Regina released her seatbelt and opened the door, standing up slowly on legs rendered stiff from the long ride. She busied herself smoothing the creases in her black dress pants as she waited for the blonde to round the car, her reawakened nerves making her pulse quicken.

"What did you tell her?" Regina asked, lowering her voice to a whisper as they walked through the darkness toward the French doors at the rear of the property.

"Nothing more than she needed to know. That there was someone that wanted to hurt you and that I needed to get you out of town for a while," Emma replied, quietly. She saw the skeptical raised eyebrow the other woman fixed on her, but she shrugged it off. She wasn't quite sure how, but she silently vowed to herself that she'd find the right way to dance around the truth so that Michelle was appeased and Regina remained safe.

A petite, slender-built woman with haphazard, shoulder-length blonde curls appeared in the door frame to greet them. She smiled at the women kindly, though it was careworn and there were hints of dark circles rimming her eyes – most definitely from staying up to wait for them, Regina deduced. She had assumed that Michelle would have been middle-aged to have a 17-year old child, but the other woman had a youthful air about her in the way that she carried herself. Regina felt herself relax a bit as the other woman ushered them inside. Perhaps staying here with Emma's friends wouldn't be so horrible after all.

"You must be exhausted!" Michelle exclaimed, taking in the two women's faces as she led them into the dimly-lit parlor.

"It's been a long night, for sure," Regina affirmed, casting a sidelong glance at her blonde companion.

"Well, let me take you up to your room, then. We can talk some more in the morning," she offered, walking behind the antique mahogany desk that stood tall in the corner of the room. She fetched a key from a hook on the wall and proceeded to lead the women up the grand staircase at the center of the home. Emma noted that there were quite a few other keys still on the rack.

"Is anyone else staying here right now?" she asked.

"Only a few couples at the moment," Michelle replied, turning to reply as she rounded the first flight of stairs. "It's a bit early yet. But we'll be hitting busy season soon enough when it gets warmer."

Emma nodded, knowing that Regina would be pleased about getting the place nearly all to herself. Perhaps she could request the honeymoon suite for her after all, she thought with a grin. She couldn't help but envision the brunette deeply immersed in a luxurious bubble bath in a large, claw-footed tub, white foamy bubbles clinging to wet, heated skin from the shoulders down. And my God, what a beautiful sight it would be if she just stood up, sending the soap bubbles cascading down her lean, curvy body to reveal what lay underneath.

Feeling suddenly self-conscious of the red flush she felt burning her cheeks, Emma cleared her throat and stuffed the thought away. She refrained from asking about special accommodations, given how late it already was and her unwillingness to compromise the tremendous favor her friend had already done for her. And for other reasons, too, of course.

Rounding the top of the staircase, Michelle led them to the right wing of the hallway, stopping at the second door on the left.

"Here you are!" she said, gesturing toward the door with a flourish. She handed the key to Emma.

"Oh, I won't be staying tonight. I'm dropping her off and headed back home," Emma said, eyes cast downward to the plush emerald carpet at her feet.

"Oh, okay," Michelle replied with some hesitation. Clearly she'd thought Emma would be staying with the other woman.

"I'll be back soon, though," she added. "I just need to settle some things at home first."

"Of course. Well, I'll just leave you two alone, then. Goodnight, Emma and–" Michelle trailed off, waiting for the introduction.

"Regina," Emma blurted, even as the brunette opened her mouth to introduce herself. "Sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me. It completely slipped my mind to introduce you."

Regina's eyes flashed a menacing, but fleeting glower at the blonde, though Emma was completely oblivious to it. She may have been defenseless against her current predicament, but she could most certainly speak for herself.

"Regina," Michelle said, grinning affably with an extended hand, "so nice to meet you."

"And you as well," Regina offered with a strained smile, returning the handshake with a steady grip.

With a small wave and a gracious smile – she was always smiling, Regina noticed – the petite blonde turned away from them and headed back toward the staircase. Emma produced the skeleton key from her pocket and unlocked the door, holding it open to the other woman.

"After you," she offered, kindly.

Regina cautiously entered the dark room, fumbling along the wall until she found the light switch. It was a humble room with vintage, rose-colored floral wallpaper and just enough space to fit the dark walnut dresser, matching vanity and modest nightstand beside the queen size bed. A white ceiling fan and globe light provided the room with a soft, ambient glow, while a modest glass-shaded table lamp sat on the nightstand in the corner. Emma followed behind her as the other woman stepped forward and acquainted herself with her new surroundings. She hung back as Regina wandered into the bathroom that was situated against the wall closest to the window, adjacent to the vanity.

"So this is it," the brunette declared moments later as she emerged from the bathroom with a sigh. Her expression was unreadable beyond the exhaustion that pulled at her eyelids.

"I hope it's everything you ever dreamed of, Your Majesty," Emma mocked playfully.

Regina shrugged. "Not bad!"

Emma smiled at that. It was high praise coming from her.

"Think you can manage?"

"I'll be fine," Regina replied flatly, tilting her chin up with a quiet defiance that all but betrayed the worry she was trying to mask.

The blonde offered her a small, empathetic smile. "Of course you will. You're Regina Fucking Mills."

_Damn right!_ Regina thought, her lips curving upward into a smug grin that brought a sparkling brilliance to the darkened depths of her eyes. She watched as the other woman's smile grew wider in response, head tilted in a curious expression, her blonde curls falling elegantly down her leather-clad shoulder. Then, sheepishly shoving her hands in her pockets, Emma's gaze fell down to her feet and the spell was broken.

"I, uh. I should go," Emma stammered.

"Okay," Regina relented, quietly. She knew this moment would come, and though the other woman's presence had previously been a constant source of irritation, she had to admit she had found tremendous comfort in being with her that night. Her desire for Emma to stay was inexplicably overwhelming, which troubled her almost as much as the realization that she wasn't at all prepared to say goodbye to her.

"I'll be back," Emma promised, drawing closer when she saw the crestfallen expression that flitted through the brunette's eyes.

"With Henry?"

"Yes."

Regina nodded, letting out an exhalation as she focused on reigning in her emotions. "And you'll see to it that I have my clothes when you return?"

"Of course. Not a single designer suit or Jimmy Choo will be left behind," Emma quipped with a smirk.

"Good," Regina replied, authoritatively, though she could not tame the smile that emerged at the blonde's teasing.

Emma took another cautious step closer to the brunette, sensing the fear and sadness that radiated from the other woman despite her best attempts to disguise it. Without giving it another thought, she reached out to draw Regina into an embrace, wrapping her arms tentatively around her back. She fully expected the other woman to shrug her off, and at first she sensed her body stiffening at the contact, arms held firmly at her sides. Emma mentally kicked herself for being so quick to assume that her gesture of kindness would be received with anything but lukewarm reticence.

But then, she felt the brunette's arms reaching up to her, encircling her back and drawing their bodies closer with a fierce and sudden strength. Emma's arms flexed tighter around the other woman's frame, feeling the swell of the other woman's chest pressed tightly against hers, eyes slipping shut against the cascade of emotions that flooded through her from the contact. She was at once shocked, elated, but ultimately, saddened by the inevitable departure she knew she had to make.

Emma was the first to break the contact, knowing that prolonging the moment would only make it impossible to leave. Pulling slowly away from the other woman, she was greeted with a flash of anguish in the depths of her chestnut-colored eyes, but it was immediately replaced by a blank, unfeeling stare. The mask had fallen back into place, as it always did.

Nodding in silent understanding, Emma ducked away and turned her back to walk out the door. Grasping the handle with trembling fingers, she stepped out into the dimly-lit hallway and gently closed the door behind her. Once she was safely alone on the other side, she fell back against the wall, heart racing as she fought against the tears that threatened to consume her. Unbeknownst to her, the woman who was the very cause of the chaos in her heart was fighting the same battle on the other side of the wall.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay, guys! I swear it wasn't intentional. I've been given a lot of extra hours at work in the past couple weeks, so fitting in time to write is becoming a bit of a challenge. But fear not! I am still just as committed to telling this story and updating as soon as I possibly can. And on a different note, I gather some of you missed Henry? Not to worry, he's back! He will come back into play quite a bit throughout the narrative. Last but certainly not least, thanks again to my beta reader, SwansAndQueens, whose encouragement and feedback is always crucial to the final product you see!

**Chapter 7**

It felt like the walls were caving in around her where she stood. As a vast array of intense emotions bore down on her, tears stinging acutely behind her exhausted eyes, Emma leaned heavily against the wall outside Regina's room and drew in a deep, ragged breath in an attempt to fortify herself. More than anything she longed to turn right back, throw open the door and kiss the brunette over and over again. She knew that Regina was far from okay, and though her desires defied all reasoning, all she wanted to do was lay beside the other woman and tell her that everything was going to be alright – even if it wasn't the truth.

_Come on, get a grip on yourself! _she reproached herself, running her fingers roughly through her blonde tresses. She was painfully aware of what she faced back home in Storybrooke – the angry townspeople would demand answers from her, but so would her family. And she would have to lie to them all. The thought sickened her, but she knew she had to buck up and prepare to lie for Regina. It was the only way she'd be safe. And if she didn't get back soon, she'd be caught and their escape would have been all for nothing.

Heartbeat thudding heavily against her aching temples, Emma pushed off the wall and slowly walked over to the staircase. As she got closer to the end, she heard movement coming from the spacious kitchen and realized Michelle was still awake. The click of her boots against the hardwood floor resounded in the foyer as she approached the kitchen.

"Still awake?" Emma asked, watching her friend slicing a block of cheese – gouda, by the look of it – on a cutting board atop the island countertop.

"I figured I'd have a tiny snack before I went to bed. Want some?"

"I'd love to, but I really should get on the road," Emma declined as politely as she could, wringing her hands together nervously. She felt badly for cutting and running, leaving Michelle with someone she'd barely had the chance to introduce; she merely hoped Regina would be on her best behavior and leave aside the snarky remarks and sour attitude for the sake of her hosts.

"I know, it's late," Michelle said, sliding a package of crackers from the box she held. "Tell me, though, before you leave. What exactly am I getting myself into here, by taking in your friend?"

"Nothing at all. I mean, it's like I said, I made sure we weren't followed on our way down here," Emma insisted.

"I know that, but—" the other woman paused, biting her lip as she sought to find the right words. "What did she do, Emma?"

The blonde sheriff gulped. She hadn't been prepared to have to start answering questions so soon and had barely had the time to formulate a proper response. She was also terrible at lying.

"It's…well, she did some things…a long time ago…that just now came to light. And there are quite a few people that aren't too pleased with her at the moment." Emma cringed upon hearing her words, hoping her explanation didn't sound every bit as lame as she felt saying it.

"So she's on the run from the law?"

"No," Emma answered automatically. _Not any laws in our world_, she thought, grimly. "Nothing illegal. Trust me, I would not ask you to harbor a criminal."

Michelle raised an eyebrow at this, meeting Emma's eyes head-on across the counter with a lingering doubt in her own.

"I mean, look…you know my story," Emma continued. "My past isn't exactly spotless, either. What she did when she was…younger…has no impact on who she is today."

The other woman held her gaze unflinchingly and Emma fought to maintain it, all the while completely uncertain whether or not she even believed her own assertion. Yes, she'd seen some chinks in Regina's armor over the past few hours, but she also knew that the woman was still very much capable of committing insidious deeds – the most significant one being an attempted poisoning that would have put her in a coma and possibly even killed her. She was also well aware of the frighteningly potent hatred Regina harbored against her best friend – mother, actually. Emma had to ask herself if the tables had been turned and Regina had gotten her powers back, would she be seeing the same, vulnerable woman that she'd been presented with tonight? The nausea churning in her stomach was answer enough for her.

"I see," Michelle responded plainly as she piled a stack of crackers on her plate.

"Believe me, Michelle, I want nothing more than to stay here and I feel bad enough for having to leave so soon. But I'll have a lot of explaining to do when I get back to town. Someone's gotta make them see that Regina's not out to harm anyone."

Michelle nodded. "So you're kind of making yourself the olive branch between them?"

"Hmmm. Yeah, I guess so," Emma stated, pondering her friend's words. Henry had always called her The Savior, and as hard as it was to wrap her brain around her new-found purpose, the day's shocking turn of events had proven that he had been right all along.

"Well then, I can't imagine a person more perfect than you to bridge everybody back together," Michelle said with a warm, confident smile.

"Thanks," Emma replied, feeling a sheepish grin develop on her own lips in response.

"I mean it," the other woman insisted, taking a bite of cheese and cracker. Emma knew exactly what she was referring to without the other woman needing to say another word.

"I know you do, and that means the world to me."

"Here, let me give you something for the road," Michelle insisted, turning her back to the cupboard to grab a plastic container. Emma could not help but take pause upon hearing her friend's words, which echoed those spoken to her by Regina just the day before. Poisoned food was the last thing she'd expect from this woman.

Emma thanked Michelle as she loaded up the small container with cheese and crackers. Rounding the island, she gave her friend a reassuring hug with the promise of returning soon. As she slowly made her departure out the door, she stepped out into the darkness of the back yard, the sound of the current lapping the shore enveloping the atmosphere around her. The wind that rode along the tide whipped past her, sending a light mist of sea spray and several stray locks of hair flying into her face. Brushing them aside, she turned her back to the bay and took one last, lingering look toward the house. There was still light coming from Regina's window, but the curtain was drawn and she could only wonder how the other woman was holding up on the other side. Reluctantly, she tore her eyes away from the window and trudged back to her car.

Sliding into the seat, Emma fired up the ignition and took out her phone to check the time – 2:48 a.m. She could only hope that the people of Storybrooke were still asleep in their beds right now and that they'd stay there until she had the chance to get back and formulate some kind of plan to appease them all. Savior or not, they'd be furious with her if she simply told the truth and admitted that she'd helped Regina escape. Once again, doubt overwhelmed her and she winced against the foolishness of her rash plan and the frightening consequences that would most certainly follow.

Was this what a Savior would do? And what would Henry think of her actions? All along her son had insisted that she was a good person, that she was the chosen one to fight against the Evil Queen and bring an end to her curse. She'd fulfilled that end of the bargain, saving the citizens of Storybrooke from their unfulfilled destinies and eternal struggles. But the ending of the Dark Curse was far from the light and hopeful conclusion of a fairytale; rather than delight, the people of Storybrooke harbored vengeance in their hearts, wanting nothing more than to destroy Regina for the broken lives she'd condemned them to live. Though far from innocent, Regina, too, was no stranger to loss – she'd had the most precious thing taken from her once before. And if Emma had done nothing, she knew the woman would have lost it all again, and then some.

Was it possible that her destiny wasn't merely to save the people of Storybrooke from the Evil Queen? For as much of a torturer as she'd been, Regina was also an incredibly tortured soul – Emma had been witness to the way the other woman's pain had manifested in the shadowy depths of her dark eyes, dulling the sharp, controlled determined glare she'd fought so hard to maintain to the outside world. She'd felt her own heart breaking when she gazed down into those glistening, dark-brown orbs, seeing there all the fear, loss, and longing that brimmed underneath.

It occurred to her then that perhaps her role as Savior wasn't as cut and dry as Henry and his book of fairy tales would have her believe. In that moment, Emma felt deep within her soul that Regina needed her more than anyone else ever could.

xXxXx

It was disturbing.

Henry had never witnessed his mother cry over anything, not even when he'd been mean to her – and he was aware that he'd done so intentionally, time and time again. It had been a lot easier back then, knowing that she wasn't his _real_ mother; he'd learned the truth not too long after his schoolteacher, Snow, had given him the book of fairy tales.

It all started one morning before school when Henry was having breakfast at Granny's. He'd been in a foul mood after his mom refused to sign him up for the basketball league – "_Absolutely not. You'll get hurt,"_ she'd said – and he was sulking at the counter over his Belgian waffle when Mr. Gold wandered into the diner, took up the stool beside him and struck up a conversation. Though he knew better than to trust the strange man, he also knew there was no love lost between the enigmatic man and his mother, so in that moment he'd found it easy to vent his frustrations to someone who understood just how unreasonable and overbearing she could be. _"You're not very much like her, Henry,"_ Mr. Gold had said. _"I daresay you haven't inherited a single trait of hers. Have you ever wondered why that is?"_

The smarmy man's question had taken root in his mind immediately, and the moment he'd come home from school that day he'd confronted his mother about it. He recalled how her face had contorted into an angry scowl and she'd asked him where on earth he'd gotten such an outlandish idea. When he told her who he'd been talking to, her eyes had darkened into such a tempestuous fury that he immediately regretted revealing it. He pressed on, though, asking why Mr. Gold would make such a big deal out of him being so different from his mother, to which she'd responded by pointing out that he had a father, after all, and perhaps he'd just taken after him. That, of course, had only caused him to ask even more questions that she clearly did not want to answer. She'd evaded him for a while, but eventually he'd broken her down and gotten her to admit what he'd simultaneously feared and yet, hoped for – that she was not his birth mother.

Yes, it had been much easier knowing he had no relation to the embittered woman, that she had no real claim to him. His book of fairytales – which he knew to be anything but fictional bedtime stories – had told him that the Evil Queen was a soulless, murderous witch with so much hatred in her blackened heart that she was incapable of feeling anything for anyone. It hadn't been difficult to make the connection to his adoptive mother and her fairytale persona, as he'd already done with so many others in Storybrooke. Growing up, Henry couldn't remember her displaying anything resembling warmth toward him or anyone else – her mouth was constantly schooled into a stern line that rarely betrayed a smile, eyes stony and unfeeling.

That was, until the moment he'd come back from death's door.

Even now, as he lay awake in bed, the image of his mother's tear-filled eyes peering sadly up at him from his hospital bed returned to haunt him, as it had all day long. He was still reeling from her words and the forceful sincerity behind them: _"No matter what you think, no matter what anyone tells you—I do love you." _There it was right before him: the Evil Queen reduced to tears, her voice unwavering in her declaration of love – and yet, he struggled to believe it. How could it be true, coming from this selfish, coldblooded woman who'd only ever delighted in the torment and pain of others?

Despite the incongruity of it all, he knew deep down that she was telling the truth. Much like Emma, the woman he'd come to know as his birth mother, he'd always had the ability to discern the truth from lies in others. Suddenly, it was all beginning to make sense: her overbearing strictness and the reason she'd always denied him the things that other kids got to enjoy – junk food, contact sports, staying up late to watch TV. More than anything, it explained why she refused for so long to let him spend time with Emma: she loved him and she was terrified of losing him.

Hearing his mother's declaration had shown him – as unbelievable as it was – that there was some light amid the darkness in her heart, and it made him wonder if the woman was not entirely evil, despite her portrayal in his book of fairytales. Was it possible that somehow – at some point between this world and the last – she had begun to change? Was he the reason for it? And if he was, could he get her to abandon her wicked ways for good?

He'd never be able to find out if the people of Storybrooke, the very ones that the Evil Queen had cursed so long ago, took matters into their own hands and carried out their bloody revenge. The only thing he did know for sure was that the woman really did love him as if he was her own. And surely, anyone that held love in their heart was deserving of a second chance.

Henry shook his head on the pillow, willing his thoughts to cease so he could finally get some rest. He'd been lying awake in the spare bed – Emma's bed, actually – in Snow's apartment for what seemed like ages, unable to sleep despite the exhaustion that perched heavily on his eyelids. He studied the darkened room, the street lights filtering in from the window above the bed to cast a ghostly pallor upon the brick walls. He could still hear the dull murmur of the TV downstairs and see the light from the hallway filtering in from the crack underneath the bedroom door, so he knew Snow and James were still awake.

Casting the covers off in frustration, Henry sat up and threw his legs off the side of the bed. He padded barefoot across the hardwood floor and opened the door, blinking back against the harsh light of the hallway. He looked over the railing to see the young couple – his grandparents, if it could be believed – sitting close together on the couch, their voices low and faces grave as they discussed what he could only assume was his mother. Their faces peered up at him in unison when they saw him descending down the steps.

"Henry? Are you okay?" Snow asked, slowly rising from the couch.

"I can't sleep," he admitted. Even now, safe in the confines of the apartment with his new-found family, Henry couldn't shake the gripping fear that had come to possess him. His hands trembled, nerves chilling him from head to toe.

"Oh honey," she said tenderly, concern creasing the corners of her eyes. "It's okay. Come sit down."

James looked upon him with a kind smile, patting the spot beside him on the couch in invitation. The boy ambled over to him and sat, Snow coming around to settle next to him on the other side.

"What's going to happen to her?" Henry asked James, knowing that he'd ventured out to find his two mothers just before he'd gone to bed.

"I can't say for sure, Henry," James replied solemnly, though there was a softness in his gaze as he met the eyes of his grandson. "Emma took her back to the station because it's the safest place for her right now."

"Did everybody come looking for her?" Henry asked, swallowing.

"Yes, some of them did," James admitted, reluctantly. "But Emma stood up to them and sent them away."

At this, Henry's lips quirked upward into a proud smile. _Of course she did, she's the Savior! _"She did?" he asked, wanting nothing more than to hear about her bravery.

"Yes, she did. She had a little help from me, too, but your mother was the first one that was able to get through to them." James felt his wife's eyes piercing through him and he chanced a look at her, but quickly averted his gaze to Henry when he saw the glare she made no attempt to disguise.

"How did she do it?" Henry prodded, his smile as bright as a child begging to be read his favorite bedtime story.

"She told them that taking an eye for an eye was wrong, and that they would be throwing away their lives if they gave in and killed the Queen," James explained, hoping that Snow would calm down a bit upon hearing the wisdom in their daughter's words, though he didn't dare look at her again just yet.

"Well, she's right. If they killed her, Emma would have to arrest them all!" Suddenly, Henry didn't feel so worried. He should have known Emma would come through; she always did. It's why she was the Savior, after all.

"Right," James continued. "And all the Queen ever wanted was for the rest of us to be miserable and separated from our loved ones. So if they had gotten locked away for murder, it would have been exactly what she wanted."

"Of course! That was genius," Henry beamed. "I knew she'd be able to stop them."

James shifted awkwardly on the couch, rubbing his hands together in his lap. In all fairness, he knew he couldn't keep the rest of the evening's developments from his grandson, but the last thing he wanted to do was to break his heart all over again. The boy had already been through so much in the past twenty-four hours. But then, this was Henry, the precocious child who had been the only one wise enough to see that the Dark Curse had been real, the only one brave enough to fight it.

"That's…that's not all. When we sent the crowd away, I promised them that we would hold a War Council. I know she's you mother, Henry, but we cannot forget about what she did to all of us. So we're going to assemble on Sunday to decide on the proper course of justice."

The smile dropped from Henry's face, somber resignation replacing the fleeting glimmer of hope in his tired eyes. "What's going to happen?"

"I'm not sure," James said gently, though he knew very well that the majority of the townspeople were leaning toward a death sentence. "Emma doesn't want to see her get hurt, and I stand behind her. We're hoping the Council will stay away from more…drastic means. It seems to me that banishment would be the best solution for all parties involved."

At this, Snow's brow furrowed in disgust, the emotions she was struggling to keep veiled beneath the surface all but pacified by her husband's words. James met her gaze with an apologetic half-smile, all the while willing her to keep her silence for their grandson's sake. Henry was family, and that meant Regina was now inexorably linked, too, whether they liked it or not.

"Banishment? But then…will I ever get to see her again?"

"I wish I could say yes, but I just don't know. We'll have to wait and see how this all plays out."

A wounded look passed through Henry's downcast eyes as he considered the potential outcomes, every single one of them bleak. But the worst of them all – a death sentence – was still entirely possible, and merely thinking of it was enough to make his stomach churn.

"Come on, Henry. You should try to get some sleep," Snow offered, gently placing her arm on the boy's shoulder.

"I can't! I _have _to see her again!" Henry protested. There were too many things he'd left unsaid for too long, and the likelihood of never being able to say them to her sent his heart hammering with dread inside his chest.

"We can talk about it in the morning. Right now you need your rest, okay?" Snow said, her finger gently tilting the boy's chin up to her face.

"Okay," Henry quietly acquiesced, though fear settled over him like a boulder in the pit of his stomach. He reluctantly trudged up the steps with Snow behind him, knowing with certainty that tonight he would get very little, if any, sleep.

xXxXx

"_Banishment?_ You think that banishing her will make us safe again?!" Snow asked in disbelief, regarding her beloved prince across the couch with an expression somewhere between astonishment and exasperation.

"Shh," James urged, holding his finger to his lips and casting his eyes upward toward the bedroom Henry had retreated to just moments earlier. "Look, I know you're upset, but—"

"Upset? That's putting it mildly. You're talking about the woman who imprisoned you, poisoned me _and _our grandchild, oh, and cast a curse that forced us to give up our only child!"

"I am well aware of what she has done," James started, speaking slowly and deliberately, lest his emotions get the better of him. He knew how fiery his wife's temper could be – her passion was one of the very things that had made him fall in love with her – and it was most certainly clear now that the last vestiges of timidity that the woman before him had exhibited as Mary Margaret, the schoolteacher, had vanished into thin air along with the Curse. Best to proceed with caution.

"But she's Henry's mother as much as Emma is," he continued.

"The hell she isn't," Snow spat. "She adopted him. He was just another one of her possessions, and she certainly treated him as such."

"Not according to our daughter," James said, meeting her squarely in the eye.

"What are you talking about? Charming, I was standing here with her in this very kitchen," she said, gesturing wildly with a pointed finger toward the other room, "when she told me she'd taken Henry out of Regina's house in the middle of the night to run away with him! I mean, I'm not saying she was right, but she did it because she was convinced that he was suffering under her hands!"

"And I'm not saying that Regina's perfect. But Emma told me what happened at the hospital after Henry woke up. She cried at his bedside and told him she loved him."

"I'm well aware," Snow said. "Henry told me _all _about it. But you know she can't be trusted!"

"Look, I know it's hard to believe, but—"

"Impossible!" Snow cut him off.

James scrubbed a hand over his forehead. "Okay, _impossible._ But this is what Emma wants. _And _Henry. They were the only two people there to witness what happened, and if they both say she was being genuine, then who are we to question it?"

"She was probably just angry that her little game was up, and that she'd have to leave everything behind," Snow said, eyes cast downward as she twisted the emerald ring around on her finger.

"Whatever her reasons, she is Henry's mother every bit as much as Emma is – more so, by the definition of the law. She's…family," James asserted, though he couldn't completely disguise the discomfort he felt in referring to the Queen in such terms.

"No," Snow seethed, her voice low and cold. "No she's not. Families don't try to kill each other. Don't you remember why I was on the run when you met me in the forest? She wanted me dead!"

"I know. But I sincerely doubt that's what she's most concerned about right now. Everybody wants _her_ dead; everyone except for Emma and Henry."

Snow shook her head stubbornly, chewing on her words. She couldn't wrap her head around why her daughter and grandson would be so quick to believe the Queen's false show of emotions. She'd fallen for it once, too. But hadn't they seen enough to know better?

"Henry despised her. He knew all along that she was the Evil Queen. Why would he change his mind out of nowhere about her?"

"I know, believe me, I know," James said, gingerly reaching out to clasp his wife's hand in his own. "None of this makes any sense right now. But what I can say for sure is that Henry would be devastated if something were to happen to her. And Emma is fighting to protect Regina on his behalf. We can't turn our backs on our family, not after all we've already lost."

Snow pouted, her downcast eyes squinting into a fine line as she considered her husband's words.

"I want to trust Emma's judgment, but I just don't know…"

"Do you remember when we held her, you and I? When she was wrapped up in a blanket in your arms?" James asked, his voice low and full of wonder at the memory he'd only just regained, though it shone before his mind's eye with a shocking clarity as if it had happened yesterday.

"Of course I do," Snow breathed, a smile grazing her lips as she looked up into the warmth of her prince's blue eyes.

"We put all of our trust in her in that moment, that she'd find us again one day and break the Curse."

Snow nodded, squeezing his hand as her throat began to thicken around the tears that formed from the vividness of their bittersweet shared memory.

"She did it, Snow. She did the impossible. We believed in her then, and I believe in her now. Do you?"

Silently, she nodded rapidly before the tears spilled down her cheeks of their own volition and she reached for her husband's arms. She knew he was right, of course. They had put all of their faith into their infant daughter all those years ago despite the dire circumstances she'd been born into, and yet, she had proven to be every bit the Savior she was fated to be. And although she couldn't possibly comprehend her daughter's change of heart toward Regina, she began to let herself trust that one day, the dust would settle and the dizzying events of the present would eventually come to make sense.


End file.
